Falcon/Falcon DR

SAAB Seaeye

The Seaeye Falcon and Falcon DR are the choice of many leading operators for capability, versatility and the ability to get the job done.

Lightweight and portable they go where they’re needed - inshore, offshore, down tunnels or for flyaway operations. Available with a choice of options, tools and accessories, Seaeye Falcons make an ideal platform for achieving numerous intricate and demanding subsea applications.

The Falcon is the first ROV in its class to have a distributed intelligence control system. This is a multi-drop network that allows up to 128 devices to be connected together on a single RS 485 serial network and to be individually controlled by a master processor.

Every controllable device on a Falcon, such as thrusters, lights, camera, tilt motor, navigation pod and manipulator pod, contains its own microprocessor and interface and is called a ‚node‘. Each of these ‚nodes‘ is separately addressed on the network and controlled by the master processor in the surface unit. Every node is fully isolated to maximise system reliability and each is connected into the vehicle junction box PCB using a common through bulkhead connector. The JB printed circuit board provides each node with its own fused power supply and telemetry.

The junction box also houses the video line driver for Falcon and the F2 fibre optic multiplexer for the Falcon DR that is an optional upgrade for the standard system.

This use of distributed intelligence does away with the traditional ROV electronics pod packed with interface circuit boards and frees up space while significantly reducing the weight of the vehicle.