Fugro has undertaken successful trials of its new GeoWing, a system designed to detect low ferrous content unexploded ordnance (UXO) items in challenging marine environments.

According to Fugro, the new GeoWing system is especially beneficial for subsea construction projects, such as wind farms and cable route developments, particularly in magnetically ‘noisy’ marine environments and areas affected by strong tidal currents.

The magnetic signature from small items of UXO can often be masked by the magnetic signature of other sources, such as the background geology. Fugro’s solution is the GeoWing, a fixed gradiometer array consisting of five magnetometers mounted behind an ROTV. Namely, the GeoWing detects variations in both vertical and transverse magnetic gradient, which enables the ferrous signature from background geology and motion noise to be almost entirely removed from the analysis.

According to the company, the use of this new system reduces the number of false positive readings and therefore reduces the number of potential UXO targets that need to be investigated.

“The GeoWing can be operated at a speed of up to 6 knots and has been designed to offer a cost effective solution for the detection of relatively small UXO,” Dr. Anne Chabert, Chief Geophysicist at Fugro EMU explained during her recent presentation at the Hydrographic Society UK’s UXO conference in Southampton, UK.

Fugro said it is currently deploying the new GeoWing system on projects in Europe, the Baltic and southern North Sea, with high demand anticipated amongst cable routes, pipelines and offshore renewable projects.