NAUTILUS SEISMIC OBN SYSTEM
The Nautilus Seismic OBN System is built around Allton’s ground-breaking drop and pop node delivery and retrieval vehicle (patent pending). The Nautilus vehicle is dropped from the sea surface and freefalls to the seabed within a one to five-metre accuracy range of the planned position. After completion of seismic recording, the nodes are released from the concrete anchors and float to the sea surface for recovery.
The vehicle can also carry other environmental measurement tools, for example, water temperature, pH or salinity.
The depth rating ranges from shallow to 3500 metres.
Controlled callback of the vehicles allows for more units on the way back simultaneously.
30 – 40% cost reduction in comparison with ROV operations
The vehicle has been successfully tested and verified in both fjord and operational fields. Node deployment was at a speed of 5 knots and recovery at 3 knots. All tests have demonstrated the successful deployment and recovery of seismic nodes from a standard Platform Supply Vessel (PSV).
The unit has been tested with nodes from Geospace, SeisNode and InApril.
All seismic nodes were consistently positioned as per the deployment plan and provided good quality data without unit interference or noise.
The latest iteration of the vehicle was tested in Sognefjord in June 2025 with Geospace’s Mariner (~100m depth) and OBX2-125 (~1200m depth). Positioning accuracy was ~1% of planned drop location.
