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5.4.1 Chanister Investment Ltd. 



This program is also funded by the EEC and involves development of advanced 

 sea bed instrumentation. The project seeks support for the development of a 

 wide range of instruments and equipment applicable to underwater engineering 

 tasks. The hardware v/ill be used on an ROV (as the base for development of 

 prototype equipment) and on other types of manned and unmanned vehicles whether 

 or not they are remotely controlled. The project aims at making systems 

 generally available for underwater inspection and maintenance. Further details 

 are not available. 



5.4.2 Office of Ocean Engineering, NOAA 



The projects described in this section are being supported in varying 

 degrees by the Office of Ocean Engineering and involve cooperative efforts 

 with other organizations as noted. The instruments under development are 

 for application from towed vehicles, as well as from tethered, free-swimming 

 vehicles. 



5. 4. 2. a Digital Side Scan Sonar 



NOAA/OOE has initiated the development of an advanced digital side scan sonar 

 at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) , Pasadena, California, with combined 

 NASA/NOAA funds in association with a NASA/JPL "Advanced Ocean Technology 

 Development Platform (AOTDP)." The development, in addition to using improved 

 sonar components, will incorporate digital processing techniques to provide 

 the advantages of speed, programability , communication capability, reliability, 

 accuracy, and compactness. Included as a primary objective of the development 

 is the application of computer image processing to earth resources remote sensing 

 to provide benefits similar to those realized in the application of space program 

 image processing techniques. Direct mapping of seafloor morphology and deposits 

 from sonar images is desireable since such surveys could be executed more 

 rapidly and more economically than by present conventional techniques. System 

 design and hardware development were started in the last quarter of 1977 and 

 system integration and bench test began in the fall of 1978; initial field 

 tests at sea will start in mid-1980. High resolution side scan sonar would 

 be used in NOAA projects to provide images of the sea bottom and aid in charac- 

 terizing the bottom terrain for basic information needed in implementing programs 

 in ocean pollution, ocean dumping and sea bed disposal. 



5.4. 2. b Remote Sea Bed Sampling and Analysis 



The purpose of this program is to develop advanced techniques which will 

 facilitate remote sampling and ^^n situ analyses of the sea bed to expedite 

 assessments of environmental quality. These include metal pollutant content, 

 sea bed transport, mineral constituents and physical properties relative to 

 bottom strength and stability. 



The program, currently funded. by NOAA and under development at the University 

 of Georgia's Center for Applied Isotope Studies, is to fabricate a system that 

 enables continuous or selective sampling of the sea floor surface followed 

 by on-line shipboard analysis. The project involves developing an experimental 



