gener 2021 - Iqua Robotics

“The way we inspect (video mapping and imaging sonar) is quite unique in the Netherlands. The use of imaging sonar is a basic necessity for our company. Without it, we have no right to exist. In addition, we can translate the data into information that the owner can use. The combination of high quality data and thorough advice distinguishes us.” says Peter Nieuwenhuizen, CEO at oQuay

oQuay was founded in 2009 in the Netherlands. They work in environments where the water is often turbid and there is little or nothing to see in the video images. The company looked for an alternative technology to help their clients in these difficult conditions and finally ended up choosing imaging sonar technologies, specifically, the ARIS Sound Metrics sonar, which they operate from an ROV.

“We mainly inspect quay walls and bank constructions. This year we have seen an increase in the number of inspections between shore and ship. Often, this is not inspected because temporarily moving a boat is a lot of hassle or the inspection is too dangerous for divers. With our ROV we can easily maneuver in between and still perform the inspection.”

Their team is composed of four people, including: a ROV pilot, a team member specialized in processing the data and two more employees devoted to understanding the quay constructions, assess the content of the data and give advice on repairs to be carried out to the end customer.

The company recently acquired SoundTiles, an IQUA robotics stand-alone software solution for automatic generation of underwater acoustic mosaics from forward-looking sonar images. The software allows to process a set of sonar images in one single informative mosaic, easing the interpretation of the imaged scene, allowing the identification of spatial relationships and offering a map of increased resolution and signal-to-noise ratio with respect to the individual sonar images.

“SoundTiles helps us now to get panoramic pictures that help us to better interpret the situation below the waterline. You have more overview. We manage quite well to make the mosaics ourselves, making about 1 mosaic per week; the mosaics definitely have an added value to be able to see underwater.”

Last November we successfully delivered the SPARUS II AUV of the Intelligent Robotics Group at Aberystwyth University, one of the largest and best-known robotics research groups in the UK. Within Aberystwyth Computer Science they have a portfolio of autonomous vehicles, both land- and sea- based. These range from autonomous truck-like vehicles, through amphibious vehicles to sailing robots. The recent purchase of a SPARUS II has been their first venture into the underwater domain. They have named it Afanc, beaver in Welsh language, after a mythical lake monster.

Their unit is fully equipped with the Teledyne RDI Explorer DVL, an Evologics modem with USBL, the Imagenex Blackfin side scan sonar and a high sensitivity camera system with its lightning system developed by IQUA that they plan to use for underwater mapping and modelling of seafloor structures and plants.

Due to COVID situation, the on-site training for the team has not yet been possible but a series of online sessions and tutorial videos will help the team with the first steps with the AUV. We expect to see their first results in the near future, as soon as the situation is stabilized in the UK.