Page 21 - Auv News Today

>> roy, the bluefin-21 is not the only autonomous underwater vehicle. we know theres a remis, oryan. do you think the bluefin was the right one to begin with? >> yes, it was the one that was immediately available. its run by u.s. navy contractors and its a fly away system. it was able to be on site fairly quickly. there are other assets, the lemis is an auv that can search to the south or east and west a bit. i think this should bring other assets in also. towed systems assigned assets to a cert...

There now looking? >> it does the same thing as far as collecting sonar images. but it is a towed array. meaning you have to let it out on a cable. and if its three miles deep, its going to have to let over ten miles of cable out to get to the bottom and tow it. >> so it can get stuck on things? >> if the terrain down there is rough, it doesnt view the bottom as well. it doesnt contour to the bottom where the auv will stay with the bottom and get you much better imagery. and it does have trade-o...

Consecutive two years, because we stopped some of the time. as with the malaysian authorities, who is paying the bill -- >> for example -- >> if you took the down time, how much was it in real time? >> yeah, with the auv, we did 66 days consecutive, and we had to stop because it was the matter of the money. and after six months later we started again, and eight or ten days later we found the wreck. >> because you were just so close. >> it was so close, but we were short of money. but during the ...

A basket. >> reporter: for example, there is the orion rov, connected to a ship by an umbilical cord, and send signals to the bottom. this can stay down weeks at a time. the bluefin only lasts about 24 hours. then, there is the remus 6000, an auv, operating without connection at all. the team from woods hole, massachusetts, already met dramatic success locating the wreckage of air france flight 447 two years after it crashed in the south atlantic ocean. the discovery only possible because of thi...

Effort could be tricki. >> to bring in more people at this point will simply complicate and extend the process. its a very bad mistake in my estimation. >> there needs to be a spearhead so to speak. a mission control, if you like, that organizes all these asset. otherwise, we may be seeing different entities covering the same ground and, therefore, being inefficient and wasting a lot of time and money. >> reporter: ocean explorer fabian cousteau says its about time they increase assets and inclu...

Submersibles that will be very, very expensive. again, there are so many people out there who are interested in coming on board. >> reporter: with additional countries coming forward to help coordination of this worldwide effort could be tricki. >> to bring in more people at this point will simply complicate and extend the process. its a very bad mistake in my estimation. >> there needs to be a spearhead so to speak. a mission control, if you like, that organizes all these asset. otherwise, we m...

Time. the bluefin only lasts about 24 hours. then, there is the remus 6000, an auv, operating without connection at all. the team from woods hole, massachusetts, already met dramatic success locating the wreckage of air france flight 447 two years after it crashed in the south atlantic ocean. the discovery only possible because of this auv. this is the initial shot of the air france debris captured by the remus 6000. >> they can go up and down mountains, and are very stable so you get really goo...

This is the orion, owned by the u.s. navy, run by phoenix international. vehicles like this send sound signals to the sea floor which paint a picture of whats on the bottom. this vehicle can go a mile deeper than the bluefin and stay down for weeks at a time. the bluefin only lasts about 24 hours. then the rena 6,000, also an auv. the team has not yet been asked to help in the search. the team from woods hole, massachusetts, already had dramatic success locating the wreckage of air france flight...

And in this area, it was deeper. i mean, there are already some holes in their search. i mean, they cannot cover 100% with the bluefin. and the orion is a very competent tool. but without a map you dont know which one is the best equipment between the auv or the deep towing sonar. you know? because if it is very bumpy on the bottom you cannot choose a towing sonar. you will have a lot of gap area where the auv is better. but if it is pretty flat or if the towing sonar is very good, they should h...

Vehicle which is remiss, similar to bluefin. >> tell us about the remis. >> its an auv. the one we used to find air france 447. the beauty is that it hugs the t bottom. >> hugs it. >> hugs it. runs incredibly precise line. if youre mowing the line, precise lines with accuracy. downside, youve got to bring it back to the ship. youve got to recharge it and download the data. >> risk here is when you dont know what the bottom is, for sure, if youre hugging the bottom, you could bang into something....