Hello, everyone.
I’ve decided to install a DVL on my BlueROV2 based on everyone’s opinions.
So, I don’t know which DVL to install, and I would like to know which DVL you recommend.
I often see the “DVL A50” by Water Linked AS. What other products do you have besides this one?
Please let me know.
Thank you very much for your time.
Hi @cymal6,
This comment is likely useful:
Water Linked have two DVLs (DVL A50 and DVL A125), and their DVL page (linked above) provides a comparison to a few others in a similar class. I’m aware that Cerulean also has one, which isn’t in the Water linked table.
Comparisons
For easier comparison, I’ve made a similar table to the lowest depth-rating one on the Water Linked DVL page, but including more information, as well as the major Cerulean options and direct links to each product. Note that each company offers more DVL options than the ones in this table. Ceruleans options are primarily different configurations of the same device, but the other companies all offer additional DVLs with different specs (generally higher performance and higher cost, and often physically larger).
Bold values are for when there’s some kind of objective benefit to higher/lower for a given quantity, and question marks (?) are for when I couldn’t find data or have a value that I can’t back up. Any of the values may change without me knowing about it, so treat this table as provisional:
| Manufacturer | Model | Cost (USD) | Depth rating (m) | Min. altitude (m) | Max.* altitude (m) | Max. speed (m/s) | Long Term Accuracy | Diameter (mm) | Height (mm) | Mass (kg) | Volume (L) | Avg. Power (W) | Freq. (kHz) | Ping rate (Hz) | DC input (V) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cerulean | DVL-75 (OEM) | $1999 | 300 | 0.3 | 40+ | 4.12 | ?** | 77 | 33 | 0.25 | 0.1 (+elec) | 8 | 675 | 5-20 | 12-24 |
| Cerulean | DVL-75 all-in-one | $3197 | 300 | 0.3 | 40+ | 4.12 | ?** | 82 | 111 | 0.73 | 0.52 | 8 | 675 | 5-20 | 12-24 |
| Water Linked | A50 std. | $5990 | 300 | 0.05 | 50 | 3.75 | 1.01% | 66 | 25 | 0.25 | 0.1 | 3 | 1000 | 4-26 | 10-30 |
| Water Linked | A50 perf. | $6290 | 300 | 0.05 | 50 | 3.75 | 0.1% | 66 | 25 | 0.25 | 0.1 | 3 | 1000 | 4-26 | 10-30 |
| Teledyne | Wayfinder | $7500 | 200 | 0.5 | 60 | 10 | 1.15% | 100x100sq | 70 | 0.85 | 0.7 | 3 | 600 | <=16 | 11.4-36.7 |
| Nortek | DVL1000 | ? | 300 | 0.2 | 75 | ? | 0.1% | 114 | 158 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 1.3 | 1000 | <=8 | 12-48 |
| Nortek | DVL500-compact | ? | 300 | 0.3 | 175 | ? | 0.1% | 114 | 164 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 3.0 | 500 | <=8 | 12-48 |
*Achieved maximum altitude in a given scenario depends on factors such as tilt of the sensor head; flatness, hardness, and vegetation cover of the bottom; and salinity.
**Cerulean provides “median expected dead reckoning circular error” (which the others don’t provide) as 5% of distance travelled. They don’t provide a long term velocity accuracy, so probably those numbers aren’t comparable.
If anyone is interested in comparing more options and/or extra details, I’ve made a public spreadsheet here - feel free to add more information on any DVL options that are suitable for inspection-class ROVs. There are already a few in there beyond what the table here includes 
Integration
- We have beta software available for the Water Linked DVL A50
- Cerulean currently offers a custom version of our companion software that supports theirs
- Teledyne has an integration guide for their Wayfinder DVL, as @petecrai brought up below
I’m unsure on support/compatibility for the other alternatives, although I believe they’re significantly larger and more expensive, so may not be as suited to using on small ROVs like the BlueROV2.
Hi, @EliotBR .
Thanks for letting me know.
I was confused by all the different types of DVL.
I will take your opinion into account.
Also, thanks for editing the topic.
I was surprised to see how easy it became to use while I was not using it.
Thanks.
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@cymal6 I’m Pete Craigmile with Teledyne Marine. We have worked with Blue Robotics systems and have developed an installation guide for our Wayfinder DVL. Follow the link below and you can see the document:
You can contact me at Pete.craigmile@teledyne.com if you have any questions.
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Hi Pete:
Thanks for posting this. It’s a great looking product and should bring some good competition into the small DVL space.
I noted on the product flyer that the minimum voltage is 11.4V. The BlueROV has an unregulated battery bus, and while it will normally be above this level, when the battery is getting low and the thrusters are operating it can definitely drop below this. Do you know what happens to the DVL operations when the input voltage drops below 11.4V?
Hi @petecrai, welcome to the forum
I’ve moved your post here as a comment, because it seemed to be a response to the original topic.
As I understand the main specs of your Wayfinder DVL are covered in the Water Linked DVL comparison table, but I had unfortunately forgotten about your integration/installation guide when I was writing my initial response - sorry about that! I’ve edited my original response so it’s mentioned near the top of the thread
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Do you have any feedback on Cerulean DVL performance. Cost cheapest by far so wondering what vaule could be had for paying 3 to 4 times more for other DVLs.
Hi @dtrail,
Unfortunately I haven’t yet had the chance to try out any DVLs, so don’t have direct experience I can use for evaluation/comparison of them. You may be able to find some people on the forum who have used the different options that can speak to the performance of using them, both in isolation and together with a surface GPS or underwater GPS system for automatic error correction.
That said, I understand the information provided so far makes for somewhat difficult comparisons, so I’ve updated my initial comment with a comparisons section, including the extra performance information I was able to find on the relevant product/spec pages - hopefully that helps!
Walt, sorry for my slow response, I didn’t see your question until just now. If we drop below that voltage (or if the power supply is not able to supply enough current), the Wayfinder DVL can shutdown in between pings and it may take a little while (~30 seconds) for it to recover again. Also if the power supply remains that way (i.e. is not supplying enough voltage and/or current), then the Wayfinder will shutdown again and this cycle continues. Therefore: It is strongly recommended that the power supply consistently supplies the needed voltage and current for the Wayfinder to operate normally.