Naval
Undersea Warfare Center AUV Project
In
October 2004 the sanctuary, in partnership with the Naval Undersea
Warfare Center - Newport Division (NUWC), the National Undersea
Research Center at the University of Connecticut (NURC-UConn),
and NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration conducted an autonomous
underwater vehicle (AUV) survey of the 5-masted coal schooner
Paul Palmer. The project sought to evaluate the AUV's ability
to image a shipwreck with three video cameras oriented down, port,
and starboard. During the project, researchers programmed the
vehicle to run transects along the shipwreck's length.
Researchers
used a small inflatable to launch and recover the NUWC AUV.
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The
University of Connecticut's R/V
Connecticut served as the project's home base.
After
each mission, researchers downloaded the mission video and
charged the vehicle's
batteries.
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Once
launched, the AUV descended to the seafloor and ran transects
at a specific altitude. The project deployed the AUV 3 times
over two days; each time testing different mission profiles.
After the research cruise returned to port, FortKey LTD.
converted the down facing video into a plan view site photomosaic
and the starboard video into a profile photomosaic. The
photomosaics will be used for sanctuary management and interpretation.
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For
more information on the schooner Paul Palmer click here.
Additional
Resources and Links
National Undersea Research Center at the University of Connecticut
Naval
Undersea Warfare Center - Newport
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