Sea Technology

DEC 2012

The industry's recognized authority for design, engineering and application of equipment and services in the global ocean community

Issue link: http://sea-technology.epubxp.com/i/99539

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 25 of 91

cycles. The USV is outftted with a 4-kilowatt, water-cooled, electric-start DC generator designed by SeaRobotics. Survey tasks requiring hull-mounted bathymetric and side scan surveys, as well as those requiring towed sensor platforms, have been performed with similar USVs. An A-Size Sonobuoy launch payload on the USV-2600. performed a similar survey with a SeaRobotics USV-1000 trimaran in 1 meter of water to assess oyster beds in the St. Lucie River, Stuart, Florida. The National Institute of Ocean Technology of India began conducting a survey in December 2011 with a USV-2600 to map current fows and acquire water quality data in the Gulf of Khambhat in northwest India. The gulf experiences 10-meter tidal swings with tidal currents ranging to 8 knots. Using a Teledyne RDI 1,200-kilohertz ADCP and a YSI Inc. (Yellow Springs, Ohio) multifunction sensor, the USV continues to map water currents in the gulf during full tide 26 st / DECEMBER 2012 MCM and UXO Mitigation Operations USVs are starting to play a signifcant role in autonomous and supervised MCM and unexploded ordnance (UXO) mitigation operations. In all but the most covert MCM operations, USVs provide large, reconfgurable payloads, long endurance and high-bandwidth communications in both shallow and deep water. Along with traditional shallow-water sites, recreational diving creates new challenges as diving is reaching greater depths. Installation of fber-optic cables and pipelines is also on the rise, making previously irrelevant UXO dump sites a concern. Operations using USVs with hull-mounted or towed magnetometers are being used to map large shallow-water sites with potential UXOs while keeping operators and personnel out of harm's way. Since 2009, the Naval Surface Weapons Center in Panama City, Florida, has been using a USV-2600 with an integrated SeaBotix LBV100 ROV and associated launch and recovery system for MCM and UXO operations. High-bandwidth communications allow for the operation of the ROV from a safe distance when deployed from a USV. www.sea-technology.com

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Sea Technology - DEC 2012