Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: Search sub tries again after striking out first day
Robotic submarine Bluefin 2.1 of the US Navy was sent to the depths of the Indian Ocean to hunting for debris of the Flight 370 of Malaysia Airlines which disappears when was flying over that ocean from the city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to the city of Beijing, China on March 08 of 2014.
The mission of the Bluefin 2.1 was to make a sonar map in three-dimensions 3D of the area of the floor of the ocean near to the point where, according the investigators, the missing Boeing 777 of Malaysia Airlines may have fallen.
The Bluefin 2.1 has been designed with modular technology and high autonomy to work underwater, equipped with advanced sensors, and has high capacity of energy (7 kWh in two 3.5 kWh battery packs Lithium-polymer & pressure-tolerant) to carry payload in extensive operations in the depth of the oceans.
As exteroceptive sensors it has a Klein 5500 455 kHz side scan sonar with multi-beam echo-sounder Reson 7125 400 KHz and 4 GB flash drive for data storage. As proprioceptive sensors it has a system for detection of fault and leak, GPS, and inertial navigation system (INS) which is aided by an Ultra Short Base Line (USBL) acoustic transponder sensor, an analyzer device of drop-weight, the rate RDF-Iridium, and WET Labs BB2F turbidity meter.
The communication system of the Bluefin 2.1 by acoustic modems can be improved by using the new techniques of coding, multiplexing and processing of acoustic signal of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) that avoid the sound signal interferences underwater such as sounds from sea species, allowing multiple links to operate at the same time and the packing of more bits per second in a given bandwidth.
The gimbaled propulsion system, based in ducted thruster for propulsion and control, could be improved to get more capacity of speed. The Bluefin 2.1 has a speed up to 4.5 knots (5mph) but with long endurance of 25 hours at 3 knots of speed.
To optimize the search and rescue activities of the Bluefin 2.1, it is possible to use the help of an UAV or satellite as master system; the communication can be established when the Bluefin 2.1 is on the surface at the start or the end of search activities or across of the surface vessel. This work in team optimizes the search activities by covering more areas and focusing the work of the Bluefin 2.1 in specific areas with more probabilities to get success.
The use of robotics systems for underwater activities of search and rescue has advantages over the use of manned vehicles. The robotic systems compared with the humans can endure more, avoid risks such as the depths, low temperature, and fatigue. The behavior and utility of sensors in manned or unmanned systems is the same with the difference that the measurements and data collection in unmanned system are automatic and autonomous with savings in cost of the vehicles because the size and space optimized.
References
Bluefin-21. (2015). Retrieved June 7, 2015, from
http://www.bluefinrobotics.com/vehicles-batteries-and-services/bluefin-21/
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: Search sub tries again after striking out first day. (2014, April 15). Retrieved
June 7, 2016, from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/malaysia-airlines-flight-370-nothing-found-on-submarines-first-search/
From my understanding of how the Bluefin 21 works, once it is underwater it severs its communications links until it resurfaces. While this is a great achievement to be able to work autonomously, could this be a hindrance for cooperative uses in UAVs? I bring this up because search and rescue can be very dynamic once something is found, and if the Bluefin is out of communication link, this could hinder what could be a time critical situation. Have you seen any advances that could help the Bluefin in underwater communications?
ReplyDeleteHi Troy, Thanks for your comment. I have updated the post and the response is inside it now, but the paragraph says:
ReplyDeleteThe communication system of the Bluefin 2.1 by acoustic modems can be improved by using the new techniques of coding, multiplexing and processing of acoustic signal of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) that avoid the sound signal interferences underwater such as sounds from sea species, allowing multiple links to operate at the same time and the packing of more bits per second in a given bandwidth.