C and C plans on using the C-Surveyor III, in addition to C-Surveyor II, to perform deepwater Gulf of Mexico AUV surveys. Thomas Chance, CEO of C and C Technologies, commented, "Although adding a second AUV to the Gulf of Mexico market will provide greater capacity than needed, the additional vehicle will allow us to promptly service our domestic clients."

The new 4500-meter C-Surveyor III AUV is modeled after C and C's existing state-of-the-art AUVs, C-Surveyor I and II, and will include a multibeam echosounder, chirp side scan sonar, chirp sub-bottom profiler, CTD system and a methane detector. The Edgetech DW106 sub-bottom profiler on board will be customized with narrow transmit and receive beams to permit significantly deeper seabed penetration. In addition to the sub-bottom profiler, a customized Dynamically Focused (DF) sidescan sonar system will be installed to provide five times more resolution than traditional systems.

Today, C and C is the undisputed worldwide leader in commercial deepwater AUV operations with market share in excess of 70 percent. Over the last five years, C and C has completed 143 AUV projects in 4 continents for 48 different clients. The C-Surveyor I and II(tm) AUVs have surveyed more than 73,000 line-km worldwide for the oil and gas industry, government agencies and academic research groups.

Related Links
UAV Technology at SpaceWar.com