Deepwater Multiple Vehicle Navigation Upgrade

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole MA

Investigators

Abstract

This proposalwill design, build, test, and evaluate a long base line navigation system that can serve several deep-ocean vehicles simultaneously. Current transponder based navigation methods for use in underwater vehicles such as Alvin, Jason, and ABE can only serve one vehicle at a time. The work proposed will augment standard transponders to include a precision clock and control circuits so that the transponders may be operated as accurately timed beacons. This will enable any number of vehicles to calculate their position using data obtained from passive tracking. The proposed system will improve productivity in the conventional expeditionary mode as well as enabling multiple vehicle navigation as part of a seafloor observatory network. To ensure a smooth transition with present operations, the PI's propose to retain conventional transponder capabilities on the beacons. Thus, a deployed net will always remain able to operate in the current transponder mode if only one vehicle is in use.