Theseus (AUV)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Theseus is a large autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) designed for laying fibre-optic cable on the seafloor.
In 1987, the Canadian government released a long-awaited white paper on defence;[1] one of the key points in this paper was Canada's commitment to maintaining sovereignty over its Arctic waters, through both the acquisition of nuclear submarines and advances in passive subsea surveillance techniques.
Project Spinnaker was a defence research project initiated to develop the technologies needed to deploy acoustic listening posts on the seafloor in Canada's Arctic Archipelago. These arrays needed to be deployed in deep waters on the edge of the Continental Shelf; since these waters were ice-covered year round, a novel solution was needed to lay trunk cables from on-shore data processing centres out to the arrays.
Project Spinnaker was the brainchild of the Defense Research Establishment Pacific (DREP), a defence research laboratory specializing in Arctic acoustics. To help solve the cable-laying problem, DREP turned to International Submarine Engineering Ltd, of Port Coquitlam, BC.
Feasibility studies began in 1988, using ISE's ARCS AUV as a test platform. In 1990, ARCS autonomously laid fibre-optic cable on the seafloor off Port Moody, BC, validating the concept of using an AUV to lay cable.
Design of the Theseus AUV began in 1991, with construction following from 1993 to 1994. Theseus began sea trials in the summer of 1994 and was deployed to the Arctic in the spring of 1995 and the spring of 1996.
Operation
Theseus was first deployed to the Arctic in the spring of 1995 to validate transportation logistics, confirm vehicle operations, and to develop cable delivery and recovery techniques. At ISE's headquarters in Port Coquitlam, Theseus was broken down into modular sections, flown to CFS Alert in C-130 Hercules aircraft, then slung by helicopter out to Jolliffe Bay where it was re-assembled under a large heated tent. A large ice hole, 40’ x 5’ was cut through the 6-foot-thick ice cover, and Theseus was launched and recovered horizontally, performing several under-ice test missions.
In the spring of 1996, Theseus was deployed back to Jolliffe Bay for a full-length cable-laying mission in support of Project Spinnaker. An acoustic array was deployed on the seafloor on the edge of the Continental Shelf approximately 180 kilometres from shore, and Theseus successfully delivered the cable to the array after just over 24 hours of running. Theseus was then commanded to return to Jolliffe Bay, which it did.
A second cable laying mission was also performed, out to another array. This mission was not successful, as the trunk cable broke half-way into the mission. However, Theseus completed the cable delivery maneuvers and was subsequently sent on its way back to Jolliffe Bay.