90 



3.2.1.C Hardware Inspection 



There are a variety of hardware inspection tasks which military vehicles are 

 called upon to perform. These reported tasks generally involve inspection of 

 underwater tracking or surveillance ranges with their associated hardware 

 components. In many instances- it is difficult to separate inspection tasks 

 from other tasks since the vehicles are called upon to do more than merely 

 observe. CURV I, for example, conducted an inspection of stakepiles at the 

 Naval Ocean Systems Center's Pop-Up Range. The task involved cleaning (using 

 a rotating brush held in the manipulator) the stakepiles to determine the 

 extent of corrosion and subsequent photography of the cleaned sections. 

 Subsequently, CURV I was employed to assist in the drilling and grouting 

 operations for installation of new stakepiles. This work involved providing 

 continuous monitoring of the operations to enable the engineers to view and 

 document the proceedings. At one point a drill bit stuck and CURV I provided 

 close-up television coverage of adjustments necessary during attempts to remove 

 the drill bit. 



In a subsequent task involving overhaul of the Navy's Azores Fixed Acoustic 

 Range (AFAR) CURV III provided a variety of assistance. These tasks included: 

 1) rigging one of the acoustic towers so that it could be lifted from the sea 

 floor; 2) cutting various electric cables from 38 to 89mm (1.5 to 3.5 in.) 

 diameter; 3) retrieving these cables from the sea floor; 4) sonar mapping 

 (i.e., surveying) of acoustic tower sites, and 5) inspecting the range once 

 all the other tasks had been completed. 



Although these inspection tasks are similar to those of the industrial community, 

 there is no reported application of military ROVs to conduct NDT-type inspections 

 such as are performed on offshore production platforms. 



3.2.2 Survey 



Reference was made in the above section to a sonar survey performed by CURV III 

 to select a site for installation of acoustic towers in the AFAR range. 

 During the SEALAB project of the sixties CURV I was used to perform bottom 

 surveys for selection of installation sites. The survey included visual examin- 

 ation of the bottom, bottom slope and strike measurements, collection of 

 bottom samples and indirect bottom strength measurements performed by observing 

 the amount of sediment stirred up by the manipulator. 



Unlike the industrial sector, military surveying tasks do not require the 

 high degree of navigational accuracy or detailed bottom feature measurements. 

 Although the capability to perform to industrial standards can be made available, 

 the need does not appear to exist. 



3.2.3 Search/Identification/Location 



VJithin this category are a variety of incidents where objects of exclusive 

 interest to the military are detected initially by surface-oriented techniques 

 and, subsequently, acquired (on TV) , identified and their position fixed by 

 an ROV. Since a great portion of this work is considered as classified by 

 the military, details regarding both the techniques involved and the objects 

 sought are not available. 



