Collaboration combines underwater wireless networking and USV technologies to enable persistent offshore and ocean monitoring.
Subnero, a specialist in underwater wireless communication and networking technologies, has partnered with HydroSurv, the UK-based designer and operator of uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), to demonstrate an autonomous subsea connectivity layer aimed at supporting persistent offshore and ocean monitoring operations.
The integrated solution combines HydroSurv’s battery-electric and battery-hybrid USVs with Subnero’s Acoustic Smart Modems and underwater networking software. Seabed landers fitted with industry-standard sensors such as ADCPs, CTDs and pressure sensors can communicate acoustically with a Subnero modem on board the USV, enabling data retrieval, remote configuration, status updates and onward relay over satellite or cellular backhaul to the user’s cloud endpoint or operations center.
The result is a practical new operating model for long-term subsea monitoring: seabed assets stay deployed for longer, data can move more frequently, and operators can reduce reliance on routine crewed vessel mobilization and lander recovery cycles.
Edge processing on Subnero Acoustic Smart Modems can filter, package and prioritize sensor data before transmission, helping users receive mission-relevant information that is ready to flow into their own analytics, models and decision workflows.
“Long-term subsea monitoring has historically been constrained by the cost, risk and delay of sending vessels offshore to retrieve data. Together with HydroSurv, we are showing how autonomous surface platforms and intelligent underwater communications can create a new operating model: one where seabed assets remain deployed, data moves more frequently, and operators can interact with subsea systems without routine recovery campaigns.” — Manu Ignatius, CEO, Subnero
“HydroSurv are pleased to be working with SubNero to integrate their acoustic modem technology with our USV platforms to support lower-footprint subsea data harvesting. Following a visit to the team in Singapore and the successful integration of the first modem this month, we now have a strong foundation for trials and evaluation over the summer. We look forward to exploring how the capability can support reliable subsea data transfer and enable monitoring campaigns that have previously been uneconomic or operationally challenging.” — David Hull, CEO, HydroSurv
The solution is already being applied across multiple regions and use cases, including seagrass habitat monitoring, bathymetric survey support and tide gauge data collection. Each deployment hardens the technology against real ocean conditions and broadens the catalogue of sensors, mission profiles and environments the platform can support.
For offshore wind, oil and gas, ocean science, environmental monitoring and critical subsea infrastructure programmes, the collaboration points to a future in which persistent subsea assets can be monitored and interacted with more regularly, with fewer offshore interventions and faster access to operational data.
