Tritech Alive Vehicle for Acoustic Link
The ‘Alive’ is an intervention AUV developed by French company Cybernetix and partners. The system is currently undergoing shallow water tests. ‘Alive’ has now been equipped with a Tritech AM-300 Acoustic Modem. Providing a bi-directional control link operating at 25 or 100 bits/second as well as an uplink at 8k or 16k bit/second, the AM-300 will be used to control the vehicle and to transfer images to the surface control room.
Images gathered currently comprise video as well as sonar images taken from modified Tritech Super SeaKing Dual Frequency Sonar. The AM-300 has been supplied to provide a reliable high-speed data link at all times and hence it’s optional Beam Forming Array. The Beam Forming Array utilises a beam steering technique to ensure data is received during shallow water operations where multipath problems typically render a data communication system ineffective. The Spread Spectrum 20 to 100 bit/second link will be utilised to control the vehicle, providing an ultra secure link that ensures constant contact with the vehicle, even under the most harsh survey conditions.
