Hybrid ROV For 11,000 Meter Operations

The goal of this project is to provide the U.S. oceanographic community with the first capable and cost effective technology for regular and systematic access to the world's oceans to 11,000 meters. The vehicle will be able to operate untethered as a fully autonomous vehicle and also as a self-powered vehicle employing a 3mm diameter optical fiber tether for real-time telemetry of data and video to its human operators on a surface ship. We term this new class of vehicle a Hybrid Remotely Operated Vehicle (HROV). For the past 50 years, vehicle limitations have restricted direct access to depths of 6,500 m or less. Only a few deeper vehicles have ever been developed, notably the Trieste, which Piccard and Walsh piloted to the floor of the Marianas Trench in January 1960 and Japan's Kaiko ROV, which dove to 10,912 m depth in 1995. These deep deployments did not produce substantive scientific research results, indeed the technical and practical limitations rendered these efforts largely engineering trials. The scientific community has established the imperative to investigate the deep ocean floor at depths below 6500 m, yet a lacuna of practical technology prevents routine access to the deepest ocean. This virtually unexplored area of the ocean includes a wide range of tectonic regimes that pose significant questions about broad, fundamental problems in the earth and ocean sciences. The proposed HROV described in this poster will have capabilities of both an AUV and ROV. While operating untethered, the vehicle will operate as a traditional AUV, which has proven highly effective for a variety of survey operations. While connected to the surface with a lightweight fiber optic tether, high bandwidth two-way communications will permit the return of high quality video and sensor data, enabling close-up inspection, sampling, and instrument deployment/recovery operations to be conducted under the command of pilots and scientists onboard a research vessel. Our vehicle concept allows conversion from an AUV to a Hybrid-ROV (HROV) while at sea, thereby enhancing the science mission capabilities on a single cruise. Our technical approach builds on the success of WHOI ROVs such as Jason 1 and Jason 2, and AUVs such as ABE, that have proven to be effective for scientific operations. Additionally, we have established collaborations with other research groups that have pioneered the use of lightweight fiber optic tethers and ceramic pressure housings for 11,000 meter operation.