BEN ASV

In its effort to explore new and more efficient ways of collecting hydrographic data, the Center acquired a C-Worker 4 (named BEN—Benthic Explorer and Navigator—in honor of Capt. Ben Smith)autonomous surface vehicle from ASV Global Ltd. The C-Worker 4 is the result of a design collaboration with ASV Global with the goal of creating a platform whose sea keeping, endurance, and payload capacity are suitable for production survey operations and whose interfaces are adaptable for academic research.

The vessel is approximately 4 m in length, is powered by a diesel jet drive, has a 16-hour design endurance, a 1kW electrical payload, and is outfitted with a central seachest with a retractable sonar mount. An Applanix POS/MV GNSS aided IMU system has been installed to provide precise positioning and attitude, and a Kongsberg EM2040P multibeam echo-sounder, graciously provided by Kongsberg through the Center’s industrial partnership program, has been installed for seafloor survey. Beyond the factory sensors listed below, numerous other sensors, hardware, and software systems have been integrated into BEN.

For additional information about BEN, please contact Val Schmidt.

ASV BEN in trailer.
ASV BEN ready for transport. The vessel is small enough to be put on a towed trailer.
Val Schmidt using handheld controls to drive the ASV BEN from the deck of the RVGS.
Val Schmidt uses handheld controls to drive the ASV BEN from the deck of the RVGS.
Grad students rock ASV BEN in the UNH engineering tank.
Grad students rock ASV BEN in the UNH engineering tank.
ASV BEN being deployed from the deck of a research vessel.
ASV BEN being deployed from the deck of a research vessel.


ASV BEN Specifications

Physical

  • Length overall: 3.95 m (13’)

  • Beam overall: 1.58 m (5’2”)

  • Draft: 0.4 m approx. (1’4”)

  • Full load displacement: 1,900 lbs (approx.)

  • Central payload seachest: 80 cm x 55 cm x 34 cm

  • Hull material: 5083 marine grade aluminum with fiberglass composite hatch/superstructure

  • Hull color: Signal Yellow

Payload and Sensors (Factory)

  • Navigation lights

  •  AIS Transceiver

  • Simrad Marine-band radar

  • Axis forward-looking color camera.

  • Six color-camera array with 360 degree coverage.

  • FLIR (TAU2) forward-looking infrared camera

  • FLIR (AX-8) Engine Room observation camera

  • Removable UW GoPro Hero7 cameras mounted to sonar plate

  • Velodyne VLP-16 hi-res PUCK lidar

  • Speed through water and water temperature sensor

  • Electrically actuated sonar pole mount into center seachest

  • Windows and Linux computers for payload and back-seat driver support

  • 24V 1kW electrical payload with current monitoring and remote switching

Telemetry

  • 35W UHF RS232 Satel Radio Modem for low level communications and watchdog timer (watchdog timer secures fuel to engine when link is broken); functional range is 8-10 km

  • Cobham COFDM IP Radio (5Mbps) Functional range: 2 nmi at 6 m base antenna height, 4 nmi at 8 m base antenna height—installed but not currently in use

  • 802.11 b/g Wifi (2.4GHz) (11 Mbps/56Mbps) Functional range: 300 m •  Iridium Short-Burst Data. Basic telemetry updates can be provided through this system at 10-20 m intervals—installed but not currently configured 

Propulsion

  • 30 hp Yanmar 3YM30 diesel engine

  • Almarin water jet drive system with centrifugal clutch

  • Hydraulic steering system

  • Fuel capacity: 100 liters

  • Endurance: 16 hrs at 5.5 knots

  • Top speed: 5.5 knots (speed through water)

Electrical

  • 1.5kW 24V Alternator

  • 120 Ah 24V DC Hotel Battery Bank

  • 12V Starter battery

  • Filtered electrical payload capacity: 1kW