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Our team’s AUV operations in the Labrador Sea during
January and February 1998 drove home the lesson that safe,
reliable launch and recovery in rough sea states requires
a small AUV. The Bluefin 21 AUVs are small enough that we
can use an articulated crane for both the deployment and the
recovery. With a weight of less than half a ton (a factor
five smaller than that of competitive systems) our vehicles
can be hoisted out of the water by most standard ship equipment.
The weather window can be extended using dedicated gear.
The small size of the AUV is key in making this possible,
and it is where the hard won reduction in size is really paying
of for the end user. This has two immediate economic benefits.
First, the chances of damaging the vehicle during launch and
recovery is eliminated, resulting in a more reliable operation.
Second, by opening up the weather window weather, down time
is eliminated resulting in increased revenue.
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