Huon aquaculture doubles Falcon fleet

AUSTRALIAN salmon farmer Huon Aquaculture has boosted investment in underwater robotic technology to inspect its sea pens.

Two new ROVs will bring the fleet to four in a move to improve the monitoring of nets, rigging and moorings at Huon’s farms.

The pens are positioned in areas of strong current and rough water and the Saab Seaeye Falcons, designed for such conditions, can remain steady while undertaking its tasks and manoeuvring with precision, said Saab Seaeye. Huon, which produces more than 24,000 tonnes of salmon a year, sees the Falcon as ideal for aquaculture operations as its low profile allows deployment sideways between a walkway and the net. Furthermore, its thrusters have no shaft seals to service or inspect and no oil within the vehicle.

The Falcon’s iCON behaviour based intelligent control architecture offers precise positioning and active station keeping to let the operator concentrate on the task in hand, thereby reducing their workload.

The vehicle’s intelligent control system allows for a wide range of equipment to be easily added and changed for many different tasks.

The Falcon packs all this into a compact 1 x 0.5 x 0.6m versatile system that can operate at 300m and 1,000m and has been proven worldwide since 2002.