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5. CURRENT ROV RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 



Current research and development in tethered, free-swimming ROV technology is 

 being funded and conducted by a variety of sources; these include federal 

 governments of several nations and private industrial sources. In several 

 instances the project is funded jointly by the government and industry, with 

 the work being carried out by the industrial partner. This is particularly 

 true in the United Kingdom where the Offshore Supplies Office of the Department 

 of Energy is, by charter, an active participant in several projects directly 

 and indirectly related to ROV technology. 



This chapter attempts to describe various projects related to ROV research 

 and development throughout the world. Most of the work now underway is con- 

 centrated in the U.S., Canada, England, France and the Federal Republic of 

 West Germany. Not all of the projects are discussed herein in the same detail. 

 The reasons vary, but are primarily related to the degree of confidentiality 

 assigned by the various investigators. All U.S. Government funded programs 

 are described in detail owing to this government's liberal policy regarding 

 information obtained through public funds. Other governments do not subscribe 

 to this position and in some, but not all, instances cannot provide a great 

 deal of information since it may compromise their industrial partner's sense 

 of confidentiality (i.e., competitive position). In instances where the 

 investigator is solely industrial, even fewer details are available. 



5.1 PROGRAM FOR THE PROGRESSIVE REPLACEMENT OF MAN UNDERWATER (U.K.) 



Most of the ROV research and development programs deal with specific components 

 or aspects of technology. The Government of England, however, has embarked on a 

 program which deals with the field in its entirety, the following section 

 describes this program as it was presented by the Department of Energy's 

 Mr. David Partridge in a March 1979 London seminar sponsored by the Society for 

 Underwater Technology. 



"A large variety of remotely manned submersibles have now been built, 

 some with Offshore Energy Technology Board (OETB) support, and a small 

 proportion of these have demonstrated the ability to perform useful 

 work for the offshore industry, particularly video inspection. It 

 is clear that as oilfield development moves into deeper water, and 

 as social pressures to reduce reliance on hazardous occupations such 

 as diving are likely to increase, there will be a greater need for 

 remotely operated vehicles to perform underwater engineering tasks. 

 The systems to carry out some of these tasks will inevitably be con- 

 siderably more complex than those carried by today' s vehicles; implying 

 high development costs. Unfortunately the volume of work gained by 

 the industry today does not generate sufficient income to finance 

 expensive developments, neither can operators or equipment suppliers 

 afford the overheads to support the conceptual thinking and design 

 necessary to meet long term future requirements. 



This situation has been recognized by the Department of Energy which 

 has therefore constituted a new advisory group within the OETB frame- 

 work. The 'Advisory Group on the Technological Developments Necessary 



