Year
2024
Operation Area
North Atlantic
Purpose
Over 99% of international data transmission relies on subsea cables—thin as a garden hose, yet critical to powering the global internet, financial systems, and secure communications. These cables span depths of up to 8,000 meters (24,000 feet) beneath the ocean’s surface and stretch across more than 1.4 million kilometers (870,000 miles) of seabed—more than three times the distance from Earth to the Moon.
Meticulous planning is essential for laying these cables, requiring precise geophysical and geotechnical data to navigate coral reefs, shipwrecks, marine sanctuaries, and geological hazards. Traditionally, this process has depended on large, crewed survey vessels, often at great financial and environmental cost.
In a groundbreaking collaboration, Saildrone and Meta completed the first autonomous deep-water cable route survey in the North Atlantic in June and July 2024. The objective of the demonstration was to assess the use of the 20-meter Saildrone Surveyor uncrewed surface vehicle (USV), for conducting deep-water cable route surveys, focusing on evaluating its current capabilities and identifying areas for future development to position it as a viable alternative to traditional deep-water survey vessels.
Results
Over the course of 26 days at sea, the Saildrone Surveyor mapped more than 4,500 kilometers of complex seabed topography. Operating in challenging conditions and at depths up to 5,500 meters, the Surveyor gathered high-resolution bathymetric data using a Kongsberg EM304 MKII multibeam sonar, achieving swath coverage of up to 10 kilometers.
The mission focused on the Anjana cable route and the Aurora route, allowing direct comparison with traditional crewed surveys. Key operational metrics—route fidelity, line keeping, data transmission, and depth accuracy—met or exceeded expectations across the board.
An important achievement was the dramatic reduction in health, safety, and environmental (HSE) risks. By enabling remote operations from shore-based or home offices, the mission improved the quality of life for surveyors and engineers—eliminating the need for extended offshore deployments. In terms of emissions, the Saildrone Surveyor avoided an estimated 243 tons of CO₂, emitting 50 times less than a conventional survey vessel.
The success of the mission demonstrated a bold new standard for offshore mapping—one that is safer, more sustainable, and more cost-effective and paves the way for broader adoption of USVs in subsea telecommunications, offshore energy, and national hydrographic programs.
