The Block N (Brunei) project used a Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) and sidescan on behalf of support of the Petronas Carigali Brunei Limited Block N Exploration Drilling Campaign. The project entailed the use of a dual channel, high resolution, sidescan sonar linked to GPS data feed with setback adjustment, using the speed over ground to adjust the aspect ratio of the sonar image. Data processing and map-making converted the sidescan data via Sonar-Wiz 5 Mosaicing software.
Ground-truthing was then carried out at selected sites to determine seabed condition, species diversity and abundance, and related fish and invertebrate surveys using an Eprons RB Mini 600 ROV. The ROV contains a full 1080 HD camera, horizontal sonar, a wide angle black and white standard definition camera, 6 x 1.5Kg thrusters, 4 x 700 lumen lamps and a 50cm manipulator arm. It is deployed with 300m of umbilical cable giving it a range of ~200m at the depths required for this survey.
