During the Polarstern expedition PS 85 (ARK XXVIII / 2) in July 2014 navigation markers of AIRBUS DS were deployed on the seabed. Colleagues of HGF-MPG Group for Deep Sea Ecology and Technology of the Alfred Wegener Institute have mounted the navigation markers during their annual trip to the long-term deep-sea observatory „Hausgarten“ (eastern Fram Strait) to a bottom–lander and deployed the lander in about 2500 m water depth. The lander remains there for approximately 1 year and is brought back on board ship during the expedition in the summer 2015. After this long-term use the influence of the extreme deep-sea conditions on markers will examined to identify by whom and to what extent the markers were colonized. This study serves for the later use of markers for navigation of deep-sea caterpillar vehicles (crawler). As part of ROBEX these markers are to be used for determining the position and orientation of crawlers, specifically for VIATOR from GEOMAR, via image guidance during their mission on the seabed. The crawler illuminates the scene, the crawler camera takes pictures, from the pattern of the marks a software of AIRBUS DS then determines the relative position and orientation to the target. This target will be a bottom lander with a function of a „garage“ for the crawler. On this basis the control commands for the crawler are generated autonomously by means of a software by DFKI and AIRBUS DS and the vehicle runs autonomously to the lander. The Jacobs University is currently testing this navigation marker of AIRBUS DS while underwater missions of Wally II.
© AWI | New Airbus DS navigation marker for the development of underwater navigation methods
AWI deploys navigation marker of AIRBUS DS on the deep seafloor