147 



6.1.8 Re liability/Per forma nee 



In an emerging field of technology, such as Remotely Operated Vehicles, it is 

 not unusual for vehicles of such diversity to encounter problems in reliability. 

 Indeed, it would be unusual if all vehicles did work flawlessly. There is no 

 program which could be invoked that would correct the malfunctions of such a 

 wide variety of vehicles and vehicle components. There is, however, a need 

 for dissemination of information between operators and manufacturers regarding 

 the types of failures encountered, the failure mode, and the corrective action 

 employed. There is no such service now available, and the participants in this 

 field must rely upon word of mouth for an exchange of information. 



A program is required which would periodically canvases the operators of ROVs 

 to obtain information regarding their vehicle's performance and modifications 

 and/or innovations they have introduced to increase performance of the vehicle 

 and its supporting systems and instrumentation. Several times in this assessment 

 reference has been made to the dynamics of this industry. The only practical 

 method of staying abreast of developments is to actively maintain contact with 

 the operators and manufacturers on an international basis. Consequently, two 

 services could be supplied which would be critical and invaluable towards 

 exchange of technological information: 1) description and a critique of world- 

 wide vehicle performance, and 2) a current status report of worldwide research 

 and development activities in Remotely Operated Vehicle technology. 



6.2 IMMEDIATE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS (Scientific/Research) 



The U.S. scientific community has had considerable experience with towed vehicles, 

 particularly Scripps Institute of Oceanography, The National Marine Fisheries 

 Service and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Experience with free-swimming 

 tethered vehicles, however, is extremely limited, the only known user being 

 the Environmental Protection Agency. As a consequence, the effectiveness of 

 tethered, free-swimming ROVs as scientific research vehicles has not been 

 demonstrated. There are, therefore, a variety of unanswered questions regarding 

 the suitability of ROVs to scientific/research applications. In view of the 

 fact that one-atmosphere manned submersibles are employed in a variety of 

 governmental research, it is likely that a tethered, free-swimming ROV can 

 perform a number of these tasks without human intervention and less expensively. 

 First, however, an evaluation of an ROV toward this application should be 

 performed. 



6.2.1 Scientific Indocrination 



It is recommencJed that an ROV be leased and employed to conduct scientific 

 investigations under actual field conditions and in the same program as are 

 manned submersibles. While many of the operational and functional considerations 

 of a scientific/research ROV will parallel those of a commercially-employed 

 vehicle, there are considerations which are unique to the scientific user. 

 The following aspects should be specifically evaluated. 



control/maneuverability (over flat and steeply sloping bottom) 



pursuit/capture capability 



data quality 



data telemetry rate 



viewing quality (resolution/range) 



three-dimensional viewing 



