French subsea installation company Louis Dreyfus TravOcean has ordered two Saab Seaeye Leopard remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) for touchdown monitoring and support.
The Leopard work vehicle comes equipped with eleven thrusters and iCON intelligent control system, expected to provide TravOcean with a stable work platform even in strong currents.
The iCON system delivers greater flight stability under variable loads, including pitch and roll stabilisation, offering stable flight even with large tools and sensors deployed, according to Saab.
iCON independently manages each device on the vehicle, including auto redundancy to keep the ROV working even with multiple equipment damage. Effectively, the Leopard thinks for itself, leaving the operator free to concentrate on the task at hand.
This independent control comes from relocating the brains of the system into sensors and actuators around the vehicle, having refined the main electronics into an intelligent power distribution and data hub.
Free from centralised electronics, the Leopard’s distributed intelligence allows for systems to be changed or added without the need to partially dismantle the vehicle. It also offers building-block simplicity for system reconfiguration, along with remote internet access for upgrades and support.