Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1115818
The Hugin 1000 AUV is a joint project of a Norwegian company named Kongsberg and the Norwegian Defence Research Es- tablishment, belonging to a larger family of such type of vehicles, whose beginnings date back to the first half of the 1990s. This was when the company decided to launch a program to develop a universal autonomous underwater vehicle, designed for both civil and military applications. The joint efforts of Kongsberg and the Norwegian Ministry of Defence bore fruit in the form of the en- tire family of Hugin vehicles. Hugins were first supplied to the civil sector, and its earliest users started using them in 1997. The tests of the first Hugin designed for anti-mine applications, carried out by the Royal Norwegian Navy from the deck of the HNoMS Karmøy minehunter, took place in 2001. After the tests ended successfully, Hugin vehicles became part of the Royal Norwegian Navy's equipment. Since that time, the vehicle has undergone an evolution in terms of both its exterior and its sub-assemblies. At present, the Hugin family is composed of two models: the Hugin 3000 and the Hugin 4500 (until recently, there has been a third sub-type called Hugin 1000 – like the one equipped on ORP "Kormoran"). The digits used to la- bel the vehicles mean the maximum depth ratings at which a given vehicle is able to operate. Hugin AUVs currently serve a broad range of purposes, including: Ä search tasks for companies dealing with extracting mineral resources from the seabed and operating in the offshore indus- try. Vehicles are also used to inspect un- derwater pipelines using PipeLine Tracking software which makes it possible to navi- gate precisely above particular lines; Ä naval mine reconnaissance and mapping of the seabed, taken advantage of by naval forces and other state institutions; Ä marine research; Ä hydrography. Hugins 1000 and 3000 are used as mine countermeasures for obvious reasons – an- ti-mine operations are not carried out at greater depths. The vehicle version determines the operat- ing depth but also the weight of the pay- loads to be carried. It seems reasonable to emphasize that the Hugin vehicle alone is only a platform, whose capabilities de- pend on the set of sensors it may carry. Individual AUVs differ from one another in this respect, each featuring various mod- els of sonars, echo sounders, cameras, and other sensors – depending on a given user's needs. The vehicle is divided into three main sec- tions. The front section houses payloads and navigation systems. The midsection, www.fragoutmag.com