Cabled Ocean Observatories
Technology, Experience, and Efficiency you can’t do without.
We’ve been there since the beginning and continue to be a key partner in the development, installation, and maintenance of the world’s leading cabled ocean observatories. Over the years we have developed unparalleled technology, experience, and efficiency in the installation and maintenance of observatory systems from primary nodes to delicate instruments. We understand the difficult challenges and we will always strive to help you see them through successfully.
ROCLS
Extend the reach of your cabled observatory
The Remotely Operated Cable Laying System (ROCLS) answers one of the most challenging problems facing the installation of cabled ocean observatories: the connection of instruments and secondary nodes located kilometres away from the main observatory nodes. ROCLS is a unique, simple, and robust system that enables the subsea laying of long extensions cables weighting thousands of pounds in situations that would be very costly and extremely difficult or impossible to manage from a cable ship.
Through-frame lift
Efficiency by design
A constant challenge with cabled observatories is to safely and accurately place and recover your heavy instruments to the seafloor, the 4000 lb through-frame lift answers this challenge. In one dive and without using a ship's wire, ROPOS can pick up an instrument platform from the ship's deck, safely bring it over the side and to the exact location you've chosen on the seafloor, connect it to the node and deploy all of its satellite sensors, disconnect a neighboring platform, recover it to the surface and safely place it on the ship's deck for maintenance.
Latching Interface
Safe and Efficient
The "observatory latching interface" was designed to allow the safe and efficient deployment and recovery of your instruments. By securely latching in your packages, ROPOS can safely deploy and recover them from the vessel without putting anyone in harm's way. The latching is done with the touch of a button making it significantly faster than other methods such as hooks or shackles. The system provides fail-safes that insure that your package will remain attached even through a complete loss of vehicle power. It also provides a way to quickly and accurately measure your instrument's heading, pitch, and roll upon placement.
Tool Basket
Handle the unweildy
The tool basket was designed to allow the safe and efficient deployment and recovery of a variety of payloads. From many small and delicate scientific sensors to a large and unwieldy instrument, the tool basket can handle it. Fitted with a 2 m x 2 m platform capable of holding a 500kg payload, the tool basket uses the observatory latching interface to quickly latch and unlatch from ROPOS. This allows ROPOS to accurately place and move the tool basket around the work site making it is significantly faster than traditional methods such as using the ship's wire or an "elevator".
Data Management
A powerful tool to manage your data
A ROPOS expedition can involve 20 to 30 scientists, most of whom collect data, imagery, samples, and observations using an array of instruments and sampling devices. Efficiently managing and safely archiving massive amounts of data at sea is a challenge we take seriously.
Our Integrated Real-time Logging System (IRLS 2.0) is a powerful and intuitive annotation tool that brings together framegrabs, digital still pictures, and many other files with flexible organizational elements that create a dataset that is tailored to your needs; it helps you make the most of your time offshore and facilitates review and post-expedition analysis.
Navigation
Accuracy and repeatability
The ROPOS system is equipped with state of the art navigation sensors that are merged to deliver a best solution using our LOKI Kalman filter. With this geodetically accurate and repeatable sub sea positioning, ROPOS can safely and quickly complete challenging surveys and dives.
All of these sensors, systems and data are managed, shared and controlled using the SEA's Seascape and Workboat software suite. With these powerful tools, our navigators can handle any operational requirements, give you virtually any output, as well as insure that you, the bridge and the ROV pilots always have a real-time picture of the operations.
Control Lab
Several ways to work together
The ROPOS operations centre can be integrated on a ship either in a container, or in a lab space. The first approach is to load and install a pre-configured 20-foot container, which is a self-contained, climate-controlled operations centre on the deck of the ship. The second approach is for the operations centre to be set up in a lab space on the ship. This option requires additional time, as equipment needs to be moved into and set up in the allocated space. In both cases, in order to include a wider audience, there is also a remote lab option. The remote lab is a series of monitors and audio stations that can be set up at a separate location on the ship. The remote lab allows for viewing of all the principle ROV video feeds and supports bi-directional communication with the operations centre.
Manipulators
Handling the most complex tasks
When it comes to getting things done, from delicate sampling operations and difficult sub-sea connections to managing 300 lb instruments, ROPOS is equipped to handle it. Its two powerful and agile Shilling Robotics TITAN 4 7-function manipulators offer an unparalleled controllability and responsiveness that allows our skilled operators to efficiently perform complex tasks in unstructured and challenging environments.
