Many of you, from around the world, are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
During these challenging times, we reached a point where we are ready for this product release. We’ve heavily discussed delaying the release in sympathy of those affected. However, in the end we reached the conclusion that releasing the DVL-A50 is the right thing to do, because stopping progress is not helping the world either.
Water Linked launches: DVL A50 Doppler Velocity Log
We are extremely excited to launch the first product in a brand new product family - namely the DVL A50!
Worlds smallest - by far!
Made with small and medium vehicles in mind, the DVL A50 is extremely small. Actually, the closest competitors are 10-20 times larger!
The incredibly small size means you can finally enjoy the power of a high performance DVL on any vehicle without worrying about space.
More information:
For more information what a DVL is and how it can benefit an underwater vehicle, as well as size comparison with other DVLs: Doppler Velocity Log
Product page with specifications, pricing and ordering information: DVL A50 | Water Linked
Video demos
Pictures say more than a thousand words, so check out our videos demonstrating some of the benefits and performance of a DVL A50 on a BlueROV2.
Incredible work, Water Linked! I think this DVL represents a game-changing shift in what you can do on a small ROV. We’re excited to have official BlueROV2 support in the future.
The focus of the A50 project has been to bring to the market a DVL with outstanding performance for the small and medium ROV/AUVs. These vehicles typically operate relatively close to the seabed. We did for example put a lot of energy into making it achieve stable bottom lock all the way down to 5 cm. Using a DVL that close to the seabed has up until now been impossible, and will be hugely beneficial when using tools (grippers, sediment samplers, etc). The specification of the A50 has been closely discussed with a lot of ROV manufacturers - including the team at Blue Robotics.
For now our focus is 100% on the A50. We will support Blue Robotics with everything they may ask of us making sure that their customers get the maximum possible performance in return. The A50 has built in live-update of its firmware, and we will continue to bring additional performance enhancements and features to it in the future.
A long range DVL could be a logical next move, and we might go there. But for now, the A50 is here and we hope it will fulfil a lot of the requirements that you have for a DVL.
We will take your input into consideration. If there is a lot of interest, we are able to support such increased velocity in a future upgrade. Would you place an order if it supported 10 knots?
Yes! We put together an integration quickly for the videos above and we are working on a proper integration of the DVL for position holding and eventually for navigation. We’re very excited about the possibilities that are opened up by this device!
Are there any plans to integrate higher end IMUs into the ArduSub framework?
The addition of a small sized DVL would allow full navigation for 1-2 hours in an INS/DVL configuration, but it would not be very accurate with the current IMUs contained in the likes of the Cube Orange.
With something like a Vectornav or Sensonor system, the BlueRobotics ROV (coupled to the WL DVL) could start to challenge some far more expensive systems.
@ColinC I’ve seen some work by the ArduPlane dev to integrate an ADIS16470 IMU for some of the newer autopilot boards in development. I don’t really know if you can use this as an “external IMU” just yet.
If you’re interested in using a Vectornav or Sensonor system, you should ask those companies to write a driver for ArduPilot. It’s an open project and having support will only sell more of their hardware so there’s some incentive for them.
Excellent idea - I have contacts in both companies so I will see what I can do.
Is there a link I can send them with any kind of guide for writing drivers? It is not something I have looked into,and I dont want to just direct them to the GitHub page…
The 1.3.2 release is now available. We strongly recommend to upgrade to the latest release to get almost double the ping rate, higher max velocity and better velocity valid calculation out of your DVL A50.
Great!
Is there now, or planned integration with Underwater GPS?
Traditional DVLs are often integrated to USBL/INS systems to get more stable positioning without the jumpings. Ie the DVL is sensing movements of ROV and if there is no moving, the positioning updates is more damped/averaged.
