Sea Technology

DEC 2012

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

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Beer cans litter the seafoor in Boston Harbor in this image taken with the VideoRay Pro 3 GTO ROV system. (Photo Credit: Rozalia Project for a Clean Ocean) as the ability to operate and see in a variety of marine environments, carry out close-in work and wide area searches, identify and mark locations, and pick up a variety of objects. The project uses a VideoRay LLC (Phoenixville, Pennsylvania) Pro 4 micro-ROV, a BlueView Technologies Inc. (Seattle, Washington) 900-45 multibeam sonar, a KCF Technologies (State College, Pennsylvania) Smart Tether positioning system, a Tritech International Ltd. (Aberdeen, Scotland) StarFish 450F side scan sonar and a LYYN AB (Lund, Sweden) image enhancement system. Collecting Debris From Boston Harbor In July 2011, Rozalia Project was operating from the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston Harbor, running cleanup and education programs. The cleanup focused on an area off the docks of Courageous Sailing Center in 30 to 40 feet of water, with an average visibility of 10 to 18 inches. Though this was a target-rich environment with a seafoor covered in debris, it was still important to stay organized, keep track of areas cleaned and keep the ROV away from a section of dock pilings that posed a fouling hazard for the tether. The critical piece of equipment for this operation was the BlueView multibeam sonar, mounted on the VideoRay Pro 3 GTO (Greater Thrust Option) ROV system. The BlueView sonar revealed tires, large pieces of discarded metal, piles of beer cans and plastic cups, as well as crabs walking across the bottom. The ROV pilot was repeatedly able to fy the VideoRay directly to specifc targets, such as a single can, acquired from over 30 feet away. Once the VideoRay was within 1 to 2 feet of the target, the LYYN image enhancement system allowed enough visibility to use the manipulator to retrieve the object, get it to the surface and return for more. Cans, cups, utensils and food wrappers are among the most frequently found items of debris recovered from the bottom of waterways, foating on the surface and along the shoreline. In this case, a large number of cans and plastic cups were found clustered together in different sections of this part of Boston Harbor, and underwater cleanup efforts were focused on those objects. The cleanup progress was sped along with the BlueView sonar's ability to reveal piles of cans and cups with enough clarity for the Rozalia team to count them while still 10 to 30 feet away. Over three days of ROV operations and surface netting around the docks, Rozalia Project's team picked up 880 www.sea-technology.com DECEMBER 2012 / st 59

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