Subsea pilotless inspection using an autonomous underwater vehicle (SPINAV): concepts and results

SPINAV is a recently completed 1-year subsea technology development project, transitioning the next generation of autonomous systems for underwater robotic vehicles into a prototype demonstrator for the offshore oil industry. It is funded as a Joint-Industry-Project (JIP) by BP, Conoco-Philips, Subsea7 and the UK Government's DTI. The project aims are: proof-of-concept autonomous riser inspection using a small inspection-AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle); demonstrate technical and commercial advantages of AUVs for subsea inspection; and the development of foundation technology applicable to other common subsea inspection tasks (e.g. jackets, moorings and pipelines). This paper reviews the background to the technology and discusses the details of the development process and wet trials.