Development and Testing of Optical and Acoustical Imaging Systems on Remotely Operated Vehicles, Swimmer Delivery Vehicles, Autonomous Surface and Underwater Vehicles to Better Understand Complex Subs
Abstract
The Ocean Exploration Trust requests funds to continue to develop, test, and use optical and acoustical imaging technologies to mapand characterize complex underwater terrains from manned, unmanned and autonomous vehicle systems. Beginning in 2016, when the E/V Nautilus# Kongsberg EM 302 multibeam echosounder was used to map the seafloor around many of the Channel Islands, locating all six of the paleo-shorelines at their predicted depths, the objective has always been to advance the use of optical and acoustic imaging technologies on autonomous and remotely operated vehicles in complex terrain. Over a three year period we successfully designed, integrated, and demonstrated these imaging tools on a variety of platforms in complex terrain. In the following years, OET#s team also integrated a compact high resolution multibeam sonar into the SUNFISH AUV, and Nereid Under Ice Hybrid AUV (NUI). The NORBIT Subsea multibeam was installed, giving NUI the ability to map complex terrain. Unique to this install was the development of the customsoftware that allowed us to visualize the terrain in new and unique ways in near real time. The ability to build a virtual model of the seabed in near real time was a powerful outcome. To aid in the identification of Karst terrain we developed a custom module for the BRESS bathymetry tool to automate the identification of sinkholes. Successful field testing occurred (1) in sea caves off the Channel Islands of southern California, (2) to identify further Karst terrain on the Florida escarpment, which identified numerousnew sinkholes that we are considering as possible future test and evaluation locations, (3) off Maui in the Hawaiian Island chain, where the team transferred high resolution mapping data in real time via an acoustic link, and (4) at Wakulla Springs, which has 14Km of submerged caverns and an ocean facing exit much of it never explored. In 2023, E/V Nautilus conducted a telepresence-enabled expedition that surveyed some of the most complex deep-sea terrain around the Hawaiian Islands using a new wide-field camera array system and high-resolution multibeam sonar mounted on remotely operated vehicle Hercules. The proposed 3-year project will build on previous technology development and field demonstration advances through a collaborative series of workshops for potential users, as well as continued field tests that integrate diver held, manned, and unmanned vehicle systems for real time terrain mapping.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Nov 09, 2024
- Source ID
- N000142412630
Entities
People
- Robert Ballard
Organizations
- Ocean Exploration Trust
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy