Remotely Operated Vehicles

The Mohawk remotely operated vehicle is a compact, high performance fiber optic system which can be used for a variety of underwater tasks. It can be used for geo-referenced video and digital still photography, multiple sample collection and as an instrumentation test platform.  Control equipment for the Mohawk ROV is conveniently contained in rack mount cases for easy transportation and set up. A pilot station provides multiple video feeds, tracking information, touch screen diagnostics and hand control box.

The Mohawk ROV is available to support your underwater scientific research. The following documents will help you to determine if the Mohawk ROV is right for you.

• Mohawk ROV User's Guide
• Mohawk Load List
• Mohawk Specifications

It’s available in collaboration with the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.

Mohawk ROV Depth Capabilities

• 300 meters: UVP has a 400m umbilical that can be worked directly out of a 6'x4' shipping crate on the back deck of vessels.  This will allow a max working depth of a little over 300 meters.  This method of deployment requires no additional electrical connections and can be done on smaller vessels with limited weight capabilities.  The team can use a 300 or 550lb clump weight for operations depending on currents.  UVP will need a shipboard winch with as much wire as the max depth were working in to raise and lower the clumpweight and to deploy and recover the ROV.  Please see shipboard requirements for the 300m system here.
• 500 meters: UVP has a 530m umbilical on a storage winch that requires the use of hydraulic power unit to operate the winch.  This winch weighs around 2,000lbs and the HPU weighs around 300lbs and takes up a little more room on the aft deck.  With this system UVP will still need a ship winch to lower and raise the clump weight in the water column.  Please see the shipboard requirements for the 500m system here.
• 1,000 meters: UVP recently has upgraded the electrical system on the ROV in order to increase our max working depth to 1,000 meters.  In order to do this the team will be using a large winch weighing 14,000lbs on the aft deck and a smart downweight to make operations possible.  The winch will raise and lower the smart downweight however the team will still need a something to deploy and recover the ROV.  Please see the shipboard requirements for the 1,000m system here.

Sample Collection Skid

The Mohawk 18 sample collection skid is a science purpose-built skid developed by Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution.

The manipulator and suction sampler provide the ability to collect a wide variety of sample sizes, textures and consistencies. All samples can be geo-located so the ROV can return to the exact spot in the future if necessary.

Real-time Tracking

The ROV uses an integrated navigation system to provide real time tracking of the ROV and ship to the ROV operator and the support vessel's bridge for navigation. Ship and ROV positions with ROV depth, heading and altimeter reading are logged for each dive and provided to the scientist in an Excel file. Geo-referenced .tif files can be used as background files to aid in ROV and support vessel navigation.

The Phantom 300 is a small, mobile, easy to operate remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that can reach depths to 100 meters. This lightweight system can be deployed by one operator and is designed as an underwater platform for color video documentation.

The basic configuration of the ROV provides color video with a laser scaling device, and vehicle heading and vehicle depth information on the operations console. The Undersea Vehicles Program can provide staff to operate the vehicle or training so that you can operate the system yourself.

The perfect ROV for small boat operations!

• Phantom 300 Users Guide
• Phantom 300 Load List

The underwater glider, Pelagia, is a Slocum-class autonomous underwater vehicle built by Teledyne Webb Research Corporation and designed for long-duration, photic zone oceanographic observations.

The glider can be deployed from small vessels of opportunity to perform wide-area ocean surveys lasting up to one month. It surveys vertically from the surface to a maximum depth of 100 m in a saw-tooth pattern while following programmed transects from waypoint to waypoint.

Routine satellite communications report vehicle status, position and a subset of near-real time scientific sensor data.

This AUV is currently on loan to Skidaway as part of an MOA.

• Pelagia Users Guide (PDF)
• Glider Operators Handbook (PDF)
• Pelagia Load List (PDF)