Essential resource management in dredging hydrographic surveying using USV and SV

The last couple of years exacerbated the shortage of resources to conduct hydrographic surveys for dredging industry. At the same time the companies started to invest in USVs (Unmanned Surface Vehicles) or small SV (surface vehicles) to improve the mobilization time and reduce the overall "footprint" of the operation. In this paper, we present a paradigm change in managing the essential hydrographic surveyor resources by utilizing the technology to divide the dredging hydrographic survey into two parts, design and execution of the survey. The survey "design" is done by a hydrographer or survey manager operating from the remote location setting up the essential parts of the survey. Then the survey execution is done by a skipper or USV operator at the actual job site. These two are connected via a dedicated software which seamlessly combines these two functions into one consolidated efficient solution.