EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The U.S. Navy requirement to assess the performance
of acoustic systems destined to support naval operations in
the Arctic includes the need to collect environmental data for
cold region test site characterization, exercise planning, and
operational analyses. New techniques are being sought in the
interest of cost-effectiveness and improved data collection to
support the spectrum of acoustic systems presently employed
and under development
The Anti-Submarine Warfare Environmental Acoustics
Support (AEAS) program is responsible for the collection of
environmental data adequate for area characterization, exercise
planning, and field investigations related to the test
and evaluation of a broad range of passive and active acoustic
sensors. Classical low-latitude environmental data collection
equipment and methods have inherent shortcomings when employed
in the Arctic. Accordingly, the AEAS program has a continuing
need to identify and acquire more cost-effective new technology
support to field assessments of acoustic systems performance
in cold, high-latitude regions and to add significantly
to its arctic environmental information data base. This study
report is the result of an assessment of the support potential
that remotely operated vehicle technology offers to environmental
data collection and the performance evaluation of
acoustic systems under the arctic ice canopy and in the marginal
ice zone.
ROV technology research and development has been
underway within the U.S. Navy for more than 3 decades and its
technology base has served as the principal national resource
for the present state-of-the-art systems. It is fortuitous
that remotely operated vehicle technology has proven to be so
cost effective in the commercial offshore oil and gas industry.
ROV technology has been applied commercially in deep
water locations, such as the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea,
where it has assumed many of the work functions of the human
diver. ROVs have successfully completed a broad range of
tasks, often under conditions that would be considered hazardous
to human divers. At present, tethered ROVs are fulfilling
a large proportion of the undersea support requirements for
real-time observation and manipulative functions. Autonomous
underwater vehicles are being investigated by university and
industrial R&D teams for missions requiring greater horizontal
mobility.
ROV technology now offers unique proven capabilities
for positioning sensors and instruments in three dimensions
for either real-time or delayed data collection. The horizontal
and vertical mobility offered by the technology will
permit access to areas beneath the arctic ice canopy in an
unprecedented way. Several military applications for this
technology exist and additional R&D is underway to create
"smart vehicles"; the R&D includes investigations into artificial
intelligence and robotics.
This study included the development of a world
inventory of remotely operated vehicles (approximately 270
different designs) that included their physical characteristics
and principal functions. Many state-of-the-art environmental
sensors can easily be integrated into an ROV system to
provide both real-time and self-recording data sets.
The study effort attempts to answer the following
questions:
1. What are the capabilities of current ROV technology
to satisfy AEAS environmental support
requirements?
2. What are the ROY technology shortfalls, if any,
that need to be resolved by further R&D in order
to fulfill AEAS requirements?
3. What are the ROV technology trends?
4. What is the status of U.S. and Canadian ROV
expertise and manufacturing capability?
5. What published information is available on ROV
technology?
6. What actions should be taken by the AEAS program
regarding the application of ROV technology to
AEAS requirements?
Although this study purposely emphasized the remotely operated
vehicle technology support potential to the AEAS program and
anti-submarine warfare requirements, it is now recognized that
this technology area could immediately serve other warfare
areas. A similar assessment should be made when operational
requirements are available for other warfare areas.
The Offboard Sensing Initiative MOIE (MITRE Corporation) [1996-97]