Ørsted invents and patents uncrewed surface measuring vessel

Ørsted, the world's leading developer of offshore wind farms, has designed and developed the first uncrewed surface vessel (USV) in the industry for offshore met-ocean measurement campaigns. The measurement data will help lower uncertainties in the expected annual energy production for new offshore wind farms. Ørsted, who has patented the USV concept, sees enormous potential in the technology and has initiated a serial production based on their successful prototype USV.

The prototype USV is named Hugin USV. It is designed for continuous operation in the harshest offshore conditions for a year at a time. The USV has a built-in navigation system, which enables it to transit from shore at various degrees of autonomy, and it can be controlled both in line-of-sight or from a beyond-line-of-sight remote control centre.

The USV is designed as a generic sensor platform and can collect large amounts of data on, among other things, the wind conditions, the state of the seabed, and biological and ecological measurements, all dependent on the sensor instrumentation chosen for a given operation. The broad range of measurements collected by the USV is essential for Ørsted’s early-phase development activities prior to the construction of new wind farms.

The USV concept was invented by Ørsted employees and has been patented. The design, development, construction, and testing of the prototype USV were conducted as part of Ørsted’s innovation program in collaboration with selected industry partners. The prototype USV is constructed by the Danish shipbuilder Tuco Marine Group, and the USV control system is delivered by the innovative Norwegian company Maritime Robotics AS.

Working with small and innovative companies and combining their specialist expertise in vessel construction and autonomous control systems with Ørsted’s in-depth knowledge of offshore measurement operations has been part of the success in delivering a fast time-to-market USV prototype with exceptional performance.