Case Study: Kraken Robotics maps seagrass beds in Plymouth Sound with Sonardyne and Wavefront Systems

Kraken Robotics maps seagrass beds 200m wide with Sonardyne

Kraken Robotics faced significant challenges in mapping and monitoring vital seagrass beds in Plymouth Sound. Traditional survey boats were too large and cumbersome to navigate the shallow, rocky waters effectively, leading to incomplete data, inaccurate assessments, and a labor-intensive process. To overcome this, they worked with vendor Sonardyne and utilized technology including the Solstice MAS multi-aperture sonar and the SPRINT-Nav Mini navigation sensor.

Sonardyne's solution involved a survey boat equipped with Solstice MAS and SPRINT-Nav Mini to map wide swaths of the seabed in high resolution. This was followed by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), also fitted with SPRINT-Nav Mini, to ground-truth the sonar data. This integrated approach enabled Kraken Robotics to create high-definition maps of the seagrass beds with a much greater degree of accuracy than was previously possible. This precise data is crucial for the Ocean Conservation Trust's project to monitor, conserve, and expand these important ecosystems, providing a better understanding of the success of their seagrass restoration efforts.

Kraken Robotics