4. UNDERWATER ROBOTICS
4. UNDERWATER ROBOTICS
4.1. IFREMER activity overview
Since the last report IFREMER has been engaged in the operational use of VICTOR on several scientific cruises. The system is operated around 200 Days a Year. During this period the manned submersible NAUTILE has been stopped for a complete overhaul, which will be ended in the beginning of 2002.
A new program on the development of coastal AUV will be launched for the end of 2001.
Several European and industry sponsored projects are currently running.
SWIMMER will be ended in October 2001 with a trial by 300 m depth of the automatic underwater connection of the AUV on a docking station.
AMASON will start with Herriot Watt University (mainly) on the underwater optical and sonar mapping topic. This will re-enforce the progress made by IFREMER on VICTOR to setup real time video mosaicking with the help of INRIA and on the design of mapping tools led for VICTOR with multibeam and high resolution cameras.
Fig 1. Real time video mosaicking with the MATISSE software
ALIVE is a project with Cybernetix dedicated to the development of a new fast intervention AUV, with telemanipulation capabilities.
ADVOCATE with STN Atlas (mainly) is over on the topic of fault tolerance for AUV
MARIE is a project with the French company ECA on the design of a new AUV for wreck inspection and mapping.
NAV3000 and BASIL is a new concept of positioning system using inverse Long Base line system. BASIL is devoted to the development of an autonomous surface craft carrying on a positioning system.
ARAMIS ended in 2001 has been devoted to the development of autonomous mapping and telemanipulation with VICTOR and the Italian ROV Romeo.
The following six sub-sections briefly present the results and current status of VICTOR 6000, ARAMIS, SWIMMER, ANTARES, MARIE and BASIL.
4.2. ROV: VICTOR 6000
Victor 6000 is a cabled vehicle, which is controlled from a support vessel. It is designed to make optical surveys and to carry out local assignments for imagery, implementing instrumentation and sampling water, sediments or rocks. In the field of operational development, the deep sea ROV VICTOR 6000 has been launched in operational conditions. Since last year VICTOR is in operational services and has been used on several mission in cooperation with Total Elf Fina on the survey of deep-sea offshore areas off West Africa (ZAIRE). The system has also been used again in collaboration with the German Alfred Wegner institute in high latitudes.
4.3. ARAMIS
ARAMIS is intended to be easily integrated with typical mid class existing ROVs, providing a highly automated scientific tool to carry out multidisciplinary missions.
Capabilities include samples from the water column and sediments, multidirectional instrument profiling and quantifiable imaging.
The ARAMIS system consists of two parts:
The resulting system (ARAMIS+ROV) allows the pilot/scientist to command easily in real time both the ROV and the scientific instruments/tools and thus to carry out the scientific mission in an efficient, reliable and repeatable way.
The ARAMIS European project, with Technomare in Italy, Herriot Watt University, Challenger Oceanic In UK, IAN Genoa in Italy, UPC from Spain, and University of Galway in Ireland, has been conducted. A scientifical module has been tested on VICTOR in North West of Ireland during the scientific campaign CARACOLE with a first micro-bathymetric map on carbonate mounts with several major scientific hints.
Fig 3. Underwater autonomous mapping with multibeam sonar on VICTOR
4.4. AUV: SWIMMER
SWIMMER has been launched and tested at sea with the Cybernetix Company.
The Swimmer Vehicle is a EU funded project to develop an autonomous vehicle capable of transporting existing work-class ROVs around sub-sea installations - removing the need for the surface support vessels and long umbilical cables.
As offshore exploration and production moves to increasingly larger water depths, the greater becomes the need to rely on remote intervention using ROVs (Remotely Operated Vehicles). This means that any technology that can reduce the cost of deploying and using such vehicles could produce considerable savings.
The aim of EU-MAST funded Swimmer project is to construct an AUV (Autonomous Underwater vehicle) prototype capable of carrying a standard work-class ROV to a seabed installation. This AUV will actually act as an autonomous deployment platform. This would have three immediate benefits:
Remove the need for a permanent support vessel, with subsequent cost savings. Remove the long tether / umbilical with consequent improvement in vehicle dynamics and energy usage.
Once docked, the work-class ROV can completely be conventionally operated via a sub-sea fibre optic communications network and short (~100s meters) umbilical. This allows the ROV pilot to be stationed ashore (in theory anywhere in the world).
Fig 4. SWIMMER at sea
The system has been tested off Toulon by 300 meters depth. The key subsystems positioning, communication and docking has been proven at sea.
4.5. ANTARES
The goal of the project, set in a large European scientific cooperation, leaded by the French CNRS Centre des Particules de Marseille (CPPM-IN2P3-CNRS) and the DAPNIA Saclay Laboratory (CEA-DSM) is to demonstrate that it is possible to built a detector capable of studying high energy cosmic neutrinos. The study has important features relevant of advanced marine technology and Robotics.
The detector is a tridimensional matrix of light sensors (photo-multiplier tubes) covering an effective volume on the order of 1 km3.
The system will be installed off Porqueroles in the Mediterranean Sea, and the matrix will be moored by big depth. Data processing will be done on shore and the antennas are linked to the data center through a cable.
IFREMER is responsible in the marine operation for three kinds of marine operation tasks:
Junction box installation, connection and maintenance,
Measurement lines installation connection and maintenance,
Bottom cable connection: several at sea operation has been carried out in 2000 to set up the operational system, and to test lines and connections on the bottom.
4.6. MARIE
Marie is an AUV project devoted to wreck survey. The vehicle integrated with the ECA company in France is able, dynamically stabilized, to navigate over 100 km distance and to reach if needed a maximum speed of 8knots. The vehicle is under integration and will be tested autonomously at sea to build a video mosaic with Ifremer software.
Fig 5. The ALISTAR vehicle for the MARIE configuration
4.7. BASIL
BASIL is a surface autonomous craft design to carry on acoustic beacons (GIG or USBL). The concept of mobile beacons is the heart of this system. The vehicle as been integrated with the GEOCEAN company with ACSA and IFREMER. Autonomous control inherited from classical IFREMER AUV design is used on this system.
Fig 6. The BASIL system