37 unmanned systems
inside
Spring 2014
MARINE
Three new
underwater vehicles,
each capable of both
autonomous and
remotely operated
missions, will
make it possible to
explore the secluded
recesses of one of
Earth's most dynamic
regions—its oceans.
THE
first of a family of new hybrid vehicles able to reach under
the ice to map the seafloor and travel down to the ocean's
deepest points will soon embark on its inaugural field mission off the
coast of Norway.
The Nereid Under Ice will undergo engineering tests in the Fram Strait
in May and then will begin a survey of the Arctic ice during the summer.
Designed and built by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to trav-
el under the ice caps, the craft can maneuver to melt pools and crevasses
and even land against the underside of an ice shelf. Nereid UI will eventu-
ally be enhanced so it can collect samples, manipulate objects and place
scientific instruments.
While capable of fully autonomous operations, the craft is a hybrid that
can be reconfigured at sea into a remotely operated vehicle. The pilot op-
erates the ROV version through a hair-fine cable that enables real time
video and two-way communications over distances of as much as 25 km.
Should the cable break, the craft reverts to autonomous operation and
brings itself home. The vehicle can find its way back because it notes a
"home" position or "point zero" when it is launched and records its move-
ments thereafter. The return trip is also aided by acoustic "homing bea-
cons" operating at the original home position, said principal investigator
Andrew Bowen in an email response to a question. When the data are
downloaded, he added, the engineering team can calculate positions to
determine the Nereid's path during the mission.
The cable is key to exploring regions that could previously be reached only
by dropping instruments through holes cut in the frozen surface. At the cable's
EXPLORERS
LAUNCH
SET
TO
by Dee Ann Divis
The U.S. Coast Guard ice breaker Healy
cuts through thick pieces of ice
in the Beaufort Sea while on a
research mission for the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution.