Venezuela has selected a Falcon remotely operated vehicle (ROV) developed by Saab Seaeye to carry out integral inspection work and a thorough survey of infrastructure and turbines of the Guri Dam.

Guri Dam supports one of the largest reservoirs in the world and the work is underway to extend its life by another 30 years.

The dam, which is located 100km upstream of the Caroni River in Necuima Canyon, Orinoco, was constructed in 1960s.

To perform a detailed analysis of the Guri Dam infrastructure, federal authorities in Venezuela have chosen to fit the Falcon with an Imagenex 881A-GS sonar and Applied Acoustic’s Easytrak positional location system, which have been developed by Symphotic TII and MB Services.

The sonar and navigation systems will allow Falcon to scan images even while swimming around in any rotation.

Symphotic TII operations manager Jack Roberts said: “This particular set-up has never before been adopted for a Falcon and has the added advantage of being simple to integrate in the field at the kind of remote location found at a hydro installation.”

The ROV features intelligent control architecture, which enables intermigration of complex systems.

Falcon will also be fitted with Lyyn real-time video enhancement system to enable self-optimisation of the image at 25 times a second, thereby providing clear pictures from underwater.

Equipped with five thrusters, the ROV will offer the benefits of easy manoeuvrability and steadiness in unstable water.

The customised system to be deployed for the Venezuelan hydro project will feature a special trailer and winch, developed by MB Services, to make it capable of working in difficult-to-access locations