Sonardyne

IGP Priority

Next Generation Installation and Operations & Maintenance

Support received

Business support

Funding support

Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler technology to improve subsea installation, operations and maintenance data

Established provider of technology for subsea survey, installation and operations and maintenance, especially those where robotic systems are used.

Primary markets include oil and gas, offshore renewables, defence and ocean science.

Sonardyne is an international company headquartered in Hampshire, with over 350 employees

Business profile

Sonardyne International has been operating in subsea solutions for over 50 years and is a market leader in the manufacture of advanced subsea positioning, communications, navigation and monitoring products. Sonardyne has committed to growing is presence in offshore wind, with technology well-suited to supporting the sectors ambitious growth plans. To date, their technology has been used on a high proportion of major windfarms, from positioning cable laying of ScottishPower’s East Anglia ONE and site assessment for potential offshore wind sites in Taiwan.

Enabling autonomous vehicles with navigation systems, measurement devices, positioning and data harvesting for wide-ranging data collection in and around offshore wind sites.

Technology can obtain data on currents, underwater noise, unexploded ordinances and scour to assist offshore wind developers - from consenting and site development, to construction and operations & maintenance.

Market-leading positioning system for the offshore wind sector.

Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs) play a critical role in offshore wind development by measuring the water column to provide insights into currents, wave motion, and turbulence. These measurements inform key decisions on turbine placement, mooring strategies for floating turbines, scour risk to cables, array cable routing, and burial depth predictions. Sonardyne sought to solve this problem by enhancing its ADCP Seabed Lander technology, enabling it to deliver the high-resolution Metocean data needed to address these challenges effectively.

Funding support helped Sonardyne to develop topside communications link for their new ADCP, to measure sea current, wave height and temperature to optimise turbine and mooring placement.

Technology showcased at the opening of Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult’s Digital Autonomous and Robotics Engineering (DARE) centre.

Revenue from OSW has grown from £1.2 million to £5 million, supported by a 10% increase in overall staff, including the establishment of a dedicated offshore wind applications team.

Before

In 2021, Sonardyne identified a need for higher resolution Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) technology to better distinguish between turbulence and dissipation and provide more accurate Metocean data in deeper offshore environments. Improving this function would provide developers with more accurate data, enabling them to determine the most appropriate installation solutions. Sonardyne applied for an innovation grant through OWGP to support the enhancement of its existing ADCP Seabed Lander technology. This project aimed to integrate the ADCP with a LiDAR buoy, enabling developers to access a seamless and comprehensive dataset. The development of this technology is particularly important for floating offshore wind projects, where precise data is essential to monitor scour and cross-correlate behaviour in mooring systems and dynamic cables, ensuring greater reliability and cost-efficiency in project planning

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What they say

“

The OWGP grant enabled us to connect the ADCP data to the Cloud much earlier than we had initially planned in our roadmap. This advancement resulted in a complete end-to-end package we can offer to our customers. OWGP has been very supportive of the project, even going so far as to introduce us to potential users of the system.

MICHAEL ELLIS

Business Development Manager, Renewables, Sonardyne