Overview

Rapid Deployment Underwater Inspection System

The CodaOctopus® Underwater Inspection System (UIS) is a rapid deployment system used in over 35 ports in the U.S. and by a growing number of naval forces worldwide for a variety of underwater tasks including rapid real-time inspection of piers and harbors, change detection analysis, and search and recovery. Due to its ease of use, the UIS has enabled law enforcement personnel to readily utilize and interpret the data generated by the system in real time without needing specialist hydrographic surveyors.

The UIS, originally introduced in 2009, is an integrated, complete system which embeds our premier real-time 3D imaging sonar, Echoscope®, with a high accuracy position and motion sensor, repeatable hydrographic vessel pole, above water digital video camera and a single compact power supply and interface solution. The UIS PIPE can be comprised of all our different sonars for different applications. For all of them applies that they are much more lightweight and compact than the previous generations of the UIS, with a significantly reduced form factor and ease of deployment. It embeds a much smaller and lighter real-time 3D sonar and introduces our established Integrated Single Axis Rotator (ISAR) for simple on-the-fly application adjustment whilst underway. 

The UIS has become a key tool within many of the U.S. ports for real-time decision making. Sergeant Steve Smock, an experienced user of the UIS from the Long Beach Police Department, California, states: 

“The Coda Octopus Underwater Inspection System has been a game changer for our operations within the port. It allows us to rapidly mobilize the system to assess threats in real time in our underwater environment. The high-resolution images generated are photograph-like and enable us to see clearly areas of interest below the water, and allow us to identify changes in our ports by comparing previous surveys with latest survey. We see the data immediately and therefore do not need to waste time and money on processing the data. We face many challenging underwater threats in the Port from both natural and manmade scenarios. Investing in this system has been a force multiplier for our team which minimizes these challenges and most importantly enhances diver safety and mission efficiency.”

In a recent documentary aired on BBC TV, Sergeant Dan Laval of the San Francisco Police Department, California, echoed this praise for the UIS to the BBC’s correspondent, Michael Portillo, saying:

“If we have any of our Navy ships coming into town, like we’ll be having fleet week coming up soon, what we’ll do is we’ll do a sweep of the pier and we keep records of what they looked like last year to what they look like this year, and if we see anything that’s different or looks out of place, then we can forward that over to our bomb techs and then they’ll take a look at it. And if they determine they need to go underwater to take a look at it, they will. It just gives you an amazing - it’s almost a picture quality image of what’s going on down there. It’s an unbelievable tool that can help keep the port safe.”

The UIS PIPE uses the Coda Octopus patented subsea real-time 3D sonar technology to instantly visualize subsea structures live, without any post processing. In Asset Inspection, this unique ability could be used in support of wider structural engineering assessments or as part of a specific requirement such as a damage assessment following a major environmental event.

Blair Cunningham, Coda Octopus’s President of Technology commented:

“In developing this current generation of our Underwater Inspection System, we wanted to bring to the market a product that was more compact and even easier to use by law enforcement personnel and others, who often have no hydrographic background. We believe our fourth generation UIS meets our objectives. We are most pleased with the feedback from the field about efficiency and safety results in assessing threats, enabled by our real-time subsea intelligence.”

The UIS PIPE can be accessed by outright purchase and short term or fixed term rentals.