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39 unmanned systems inside Spring 2014 KICKER tion modes. With the featherweight tether, the craft, like its sister vessel the Nereid IU, can oper- ate at great distances from its support ship, said O'Hara. Two of the four communication modes allow for piloted control but over shorter distances— one uses a more conventional cable while the other employs pulses of light to direct the vessel. During autonomous operations researchers can communicate acoustically, sending simple com- mands guiding a preprogrammed mission with pings of sound. "When you're pinging it acoustically, and that's the only information you're sending back and forth, you don't have the bandwidth to be able to control the manipulators or do ROV like tasks, explained O'Hara. "The optical coms (communications) give you a high enough band- width so that you can actually use the vehicle like an ROV but you are not actually physically connected with it." During operations with the optical and the conventional-tether communications the Ne- reid must stay within about 6,000 meters of its support vehicle. Sea trials are planned next year and the first science mission in 2016. Better communications, specifi- cally greater bandwidth, is the reason Woods Hole is building a third version of the Nereid vehicle. The Nereid Hybrid Teth- ered, now in its first phase of development, is also a ROV/Autonomous hybrid. Intended for use from smaller ships, it will utilize a light- weight, reinforced and re-useable tether that— unlike the glass-core tether—is able to provide the ship with additional power. When built, the vehicle will incorporate ad- vanced 3-dimentional and panoramic imag- ing systems developed at WHOI, said Bowen. The Nereid Hybrid Tethered team hopes to reach 2,500 meters with the Phase-1 craft and 5,000 meters during Phase 2, which is not yet funded. During the initial tests, set to begin this spring, the team hopes to establish the re-usable tethering scheme as well as "vet the vehicle's new control system hardware and software," said Bowen. A Hyperdome HD camera, imaging sonar is installed in the forward payload area of Nereid Under Ice. Nereid 11km can use the glass-core tether and three other kinds of communications channels Sea trials are planned for Nereid 11km next year and the first science mission in 2016