MRI: Development of an Amphibious Remotely Operated Vehicle for Coastal Research and Education

Knowledge of the physical behavior of the nearshore region has remained as a critical deficiency in understanding beach, and barrier island processes. This knowledge is critical for allowing coastal communities to successfully prepare for the future, and for assessing the long-term sustainability of the Nation?s beaches. A major obstacle in gaining this knowledge is the inability to safely make observations and measurements in the surf zone, a hostile environment characterized by large breaking waves, strong currents, intense turbulence, and high turbidity. The successful development of an affordable, yet robust, amphibious remotely operated vehicle (ROV) will transform the manner in which research, teaching, and operational activities in coastal science and engineering are conducted. Such a vehicle will allow in situ measurements during storm events and under other hazardous conditions such as oil and chemical spills and pathogen outbreaks. It can be equipped with a wide variety of instruments and observational equipment, as well as used to conduct highly accurate surveys in the surf zone and nearshore. It is the intent that once proven practicable, commercially manufactured copies of the ROV will be affordable for most universities, government agencies, and commercial interests. This will broaden its availability to the nearshore ocean community as a whole, allowing a plethora of high-priority nearshore science and engineering issues to be addressed.

Based upon other types of amphibious vehicles and the Principal Investigator?s previous experience with the initial development of a surf zone ROV, the platform envisioned will be bottom-crawling, propelled by four hydraulically driven tracks, and powered by a snorkel-aspirated diesel engine. The snorkel (~7.5 m long) will be equipped with drag-reducing cowlings to reduce both power requirements and impact loads from breaking waves. It will also carry antennas for radio control, data communications, and video feed, as well as suitable equipment for positioning and for accurate bathymetric surveying. With this mobile instrument platform, operations can be conducted seamlessly across the dry beach, out into the surf zone, and beyond. Although its frame will be nominally 5 m wide and 7 m long to maintain stability in breaking waves, the vehicle will have the ability to be folded into a suitable configuration so it can be easily and rapidly transported on a modified boat trailer to any coastal location.