The bathymetric data Saildrone Surveyor collected, overlapped with Google satellite imagery.
From Hydro by Wim van Wegen
An exclusive economic zone mapped using autonomous systems
The Cayman Islands recently became the first nation to map its entire exclusive economic zone (EEZ) using autonomous systems, marking a significant moment for modern hydrography.
Led by Saildrone in collaboration with the UK Hydrographic Office, the mission charted more than 90,000 square kilometres of seabed, from coastal shallows to depths of 7,000 metres.
The results highlight new opportunities for the Cayman Islands’ blue economy while demonstrating how uncrewed surface vehicles can deliver large-scale, high-quality data safely and efficiently.
In this interview, Brian Connon of Saildrone reflects on the project’s challenges, achievements and wider implications for the region and the industry as a whole.
The Cayman Islands mission used Saildrone’s new production Surveyor, a 20-metre uncrewed surface vehicle equipped with radar, cameras, AIS and machine-learning systems for situational awareness.
Its 13-metre wing sail enables wind-powered propulsion, cutting the vessel’s operational carbon footprint by more than 97% compared to traditional survey ships.
According to Brian Connon, the integration of Starlink significantly enhanced the mission: “Starlink, particularly seeing how much it improved our ability to bring data ashore in near real time, allowed us to process information and verify data quality much faster.”
Connon saw that Starlink transformed how the team handled data at sea.
With the upgraded link, files were automatically named, grouped and transmitted from the vehicle to Saildrone’s Amazon Cloud environment, where automated processing routines immediately began assessing data quality.
Another major enhancement was the EM 304 MKII sonar, which extended the vehicle’s mapping capability to depths of 7,000 metres.
Although similar to earlier models, the new system offered significantly greater range, and Saildrone’s partner Kongsberg played a crucial role in helping the team unlock its full potential.
The mission also benefited from improvements to the sound velocity profiler (SVP) developed with AML Oceanographic; upgrades to the inductively charged system and a shift from Bluetooth to Wi-Fi provided a stronger, more reliable connection.
Navigating Sargassum and hurricanes
The Caribbean’s 2024 Sargassum bloom was unprecedented, repeatedly clogging the profiler as it returned to the vehicle and posing a constant threat to the Surveyor’s operations.
“We would try to pull up our SVP, and it would be covered with seaweed and unable to seat properly in its receptacle, so it couldn’t charge,” Connon recalls.
“We had to come up with a very creative way of dealing with that, which was a mechanical chopper of the seaweed.”
Beyond Sargassum, the mission coincided with an active hurricane season, forcing the team to develop evasion strategies.
“If possible, we tried to stay on survey but in a different area of the EEZ, and that worked a couple of times,” Connon says.
“Our pilots were really good at looking ahead and determining the impacts from the hurricanes and manoeuvring the vehicle out of harm’s way if needed.”
Merged bathymetric dataset around the Cayman Islands displayed over a GEBCO background.The Surveyor’s wind-propelled design and high-efficiency diesel generator allowed it to endure long-duration missions without refuelling, a significant advantage in remote areas such as the Cayman Islands’ EEZ.
“We learned our true operating parameters, our specific swath widths in the depths we were in.
Towards the end, we brought another vehicle in so we could have two working and that allowed us to do a comparison too.”
Maritime safety and economic planning
The high-resolution bathymetric data collected by Saildrone is a cornerstone for the Cayman Islands’ blue economy.
“The UKHO is processing all this data, and it is their intent to update all of the nautical charts around the Cayman Islands,” Connon explains.
“They flew a bathymetric Lidar there in 2018-2020, but the Cayman Islands drop off very quickly so the Lidar doesn’t get very far offshore.”
Connon notes that the new collected data reaches far beyond its immediate use for updated nautical charts.
With a complete high-resolution dataset now available, the Cayman Islands can start assessing underwater features in far greater detail, from identifying new fishing grounds to locating coral formations or planning future subsea cable routes.
This baseline information effectively unlocks the full potential of the islands’ blue economy.
It allows decision makers to examine where new resources might be found, what areas require protection and whether there are archaeological sites worth investigating – all supported by a clearer and more comprehensive understanding of the seafloor.
The mission, which is philanthropically funded by the London & Amsterdam Trust Company Limited, aims to leave a lasting legacy for the Cayman Islands.
“I know they’re excited about it as well,” Connon notes.
The Saildrone Surveyor, a 20-metre USV, supports long-duration ocean missions and delivers deep-ocean bathymetric measurements.
From raw data to global contributions
The raw bathymetric, backscatter and ocean profile data are now in the hands of the UKHO.
Connon: “What we’ve been doing all along is providing them with datasets, and they’re downloading and putting it into their normal workflow.
They’ve been very happy with us on that.” He elaborates on the processing timeline: “It’ll probably be sometime next year before all of that data is fully validated and processed by them.
We did have to wait a little in the shallow areas because the tide gauges they had installed for their surveys were taken out by a hurricane.
Luckily, the Cayman Islands had put in a storm surge gauge in Georgetown that we could reference and use for the tidal information we needed.”
The mission’s success has broader implications for small island nations.
Connon regards this as a very good example of how small island developing states can get their EEZ mapped.
While not all states have access to philanthropic funding, it does show what can be done and provides a goal for other nations.
Refining autonomous technology
The Cayman Islands mission was a proving ground for Saildrone’s Surveyor vehicles.
“It was a long project that gave us an opportunity to identify challenges or issues and the time to fix them while we were surveying,” Connon notes.
“Did that work? Yes, it did.
It was really about learning our own capabilities and limitations with respect to these vehicles.
It proves that these USVs can do this work.
You don’t need an expensive ship to go out there with a lot of people on board.” He adds: “What I would love to see is someone with a ship and an AUV or an ROV looking at our data and saying: ‘Hey, look at that, that’s a pretty interesting feature.
We should go investigate that further.’”
“We’re essentially doing a kind of reconnaissance, an exploratory survey from the surface,” Connon explains.
“We did the same thing for NOAA in the Aleutian Islands – they brought their ship in afterwards and deployed ROVs to the sites they’d identified in our data.
What we’re really showing is that the robots can take on the mapping and the crewed vessels can focus on the detailed follow-up.”
Bathymetric data collected by the Saildrone Surveyor USV over the 60 Mile Bank, Cayman Islands.Technology, sovereignty, stewardship
As autonomous systems take on a larger role in ocean mapping, they bring not only technical benefits but also questions about data ownership and responsible use.
During the Cayman Islands mission, Brian Connon returned several times to the principle that national sovereignty must remain central.
“The data we collect belongs to the Cayman Government,” he says.
“It’s up to them to decide how they’re going to distribute that.
Autonomous systems can help and provide all the information, but it should belong to that country.
That’s the path we’re on, and most of the autonomous companies I know operate in a similar way.”
That position shapes how Saildrone advises its partners.
Connon describes the balance between contributing to global initiatives and safeguarding strategic interests.
“We’re encouraging them to share that with Seabed 2030,” he notes.
“However, this may be at a resolution that’s good for Seabed 2030, but not the full resolution because that is something that is valuable to the nation.”
Evolving role of hydrographers
Looking ahead, Connon sees autonomy, AI and machine learning reshaping the workflow of hydrography.
The trajectory is clear to him: “The goal is to have autonomous systems collecting data and either processing it on the edge, on the vehicle itself, or sending it into a cloud where an AI/ML system is processing that data.”
Yet technological progress also prompts questions about the profession itself.
Connon acknowledges these concerns with a familiar example.
“I get this question a lot: ‘Is the hydrographer going to be out of work?’ And I think the answer really is no, because we’re going to be designing control and monitoring systems that allow a person to monitor more than one vehicle.”
He underscores that expertise remains essential, regardless of how much automation enters the workflow.
“The fundamental education and training that a hydrographer has still applies.
We still have to understand how that data is being acquired.
AI and machine learning will be great on the data, but if the data being collected isn’t collected properly, if you’re not taking into account all those things, it doesn’t matter.”
He expects the way hydrographers are trained to shift, with greater emphasis on data handling and smarter approaches to collection.
At the moment, autonomous systems are not formally included in IHO Category B programmes unless an institution chooses to add them, but: “I believe that will change.
In the future, some hydrographers may carry out meaningful work without ever stepping aboard a vessel – an idea that may raise eyebrows among traditionalists yet could open the door for people who are unable to go to sea but still want to contribute.
It’s going to be a change,” he says, “but a positive one.”
That shift will require new approaches to professional development.
“I think it is going to be a change.
We’re looking at things like microcredentials that you can offer as a continuing education credit to a hydrographer on various things – whether it’s the sonars, USVs or using Lidar.”
80m-gridded bathymetry of the 12 Mile Bank, shown alongside a depth profile across the feature.The Cayman Islands mission stands as a significant marker in the evolution of autonomous hydrography, showing how USVs can operate in demanding conditions while delivering consistent, high-quality results.
For small island nations as well as coastal communities, these systems offer a practical way to map and manage marine environments at a scale that was previously out of reach.
Brian Connon views the mission as a defining moment for autonomous ocean mapping.
Operating in Sargassum-choked, hurricane-exposed waters highlighted the maturity and resilience of the technology.
“This mission shows what only autonomous surface vehicles can achieve today: mapping at a level of detail and endurance that was previously unattainable, even in some of the world’s most challenging waters.
It points to what’s now possible for nations looking to understand and manage their ocean spaces.”
Looking ahead, Connon believes that advanced technology and human judgement will increasingly reinforce one another.
“The ocean is unforgiving, yet the mission’s success demonstrates how technology and human expertise can collaborate to explore and protect our oceans.” Autonomous systems, he adds, will play a central role in mapping EEZs: “They’re not just the future – they’re the present.”
Links :
- Hydro : Saildrone and Kongsberg Discovery collaborate to map the waters of the Cayman Islands
- Marine Insight : Cayman Islands Becomes First Nation With Fully Mapped EEZ By An Autonomous Vessel
- Saildrone : Saildrone Completes Pioneering Mapping Mission of Cayman Islands’ EEZ / Mapping the Cayman Islands’ EEZ: Lessons Learned From a First-of-Its-Kind Autonomous Survey / Saildrone Kicks Off First-of-its-Kind Mission to Map Cayman Islands Waters
No comments:
Post a Comment