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Advanced Navigation Hydrus

About

About Advanced Navigation Hydrus

Advanced Navigation Hydrus is a 7.1-kilogram hovering AUV for autonomous subsea survey, inspection and imaging. The 300-metre-rated vehicle combines six-degree-of-freedom propulsion with DVL, INS, USBL, acoustic and optical communications. It has a stated 1.5-kilometre range, two-hour endurance and 1.5-knot survey and transit speed.

A 4K camera records at 60 frames per second with 5,000 lumens of lighting, while onboard navigation supports obstacle detection and collision avoidance. The mission interface defines and repeats survey paths, and captured imagery is georeferenced for GIS, mosaicking and photogrammetry workflows. Hydrus can be hand-deployed and operate untethered around reefs, seabed sites and underwater infrastructure. Its open architecture also exposes sensors and controls to approved custom onboard software for machine-vision or classification development.

Observed use

Exact-product configurations are shown without inferring supply, purchase, customer status, standard fit, deployment or partnership.

  • Aquaculture seabed-monitoring mission

    Reference Design - Tested With - Physical - Advanced Navigation documented Hydrus being used for aquaculture seabed-health monitoring.

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Timeline

  • Hydrus survey documents coral loss at Hall Bank reef

    2025-06-03 - Market Signal - The mission gathered underwater data at one of the world’s southernmost reef ecosystems. The survey revealed bleaching and fragmentation across the observed coral habitat. The event records a bounded scientific survey, not a standing deployment.

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  • Two Hydrus AUVs survey a 64-metre shipwreck off Rottnest Island

    2024-04-02 - Deployment - Two Hydrus units completed three survey missions in under five hours. The vehicles captured simultaneous georeferenced 4K imagery and video over a 64-metre historic wreck. Curtin University HIVE created a high-resolution 3D reconstruction, and the resulting dataset was shared with the Western Australian Museum.

    Source
  • Hydrus AUV completes tropical-water hazard simulation

    2023-09-20 - Demonstration - The test range has been open to industry since 2022. Hydrus operated in tropical waters that present difficult conditions for underwater robots. The exercise evaluated autonomous hazard-identification work rather than a commercial deployment.

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  • Advanced Navigation launches Hydrus autonomous underwater vehicle

    2022-04-01 - Product Launch - Hydrus combines autonomous navigation, communications and image-capture technologies. The hovering AUV was designed to reduce the cost, risk and complexity of underwater data collection. Advanced Navigation presented the system with ocean-research and conservation participants.

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Context

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