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Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada's oil and gas industry
December 2018

Vol. 23, No 49 Week of December 09, 2018

Feds test Arctic oil-spill-mapping robot

Department of Homeland Security working on underwater robot to help Coast Guard map oil spills under ice providing real-time data

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate has been working for four years on an underwater robot to help the U.S. Coast Guard map spills under ice. With the Arctic changing - ice receding and maritime activity increasing - DHS is the lead agency in planning for and responding to environmental threats under the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency. The Coast Guard falls under DHS.

“Because of ice coverage and the tyranny of distance, it is difficult to get resources and assets up in the Arctic in a quick manner,” Kirsten Trego, executive director of the Coast Guard’s Interagency Coordinating Committee on Oil Pollution Research said in a Dec. 4 release. “With better real-time data, more effective response strategies can be developed and deployed.”

With that end in mind, the DHS Science and Technology Directorate has been working on an underwater robot through a DHS Center for Excellence, the Arctic Domain Awareness Center at the University of Alaska Anchorage. The work is in partnership with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.

Importance of mapping

“When S&T created ADAC, the Coast Guard specifically noted the importance of mapping oil spills in the Arctic as a research priority,” said S&T Program Manager Theo Gemelas.

The robot is called the Tethys Long Range Autonomic Underwater Vehicle. DHS said it is helicopter-portable, a torpedo-shaped system with oil sensors and navigation capabilities. The robot can provide real-time data for first responders, the department said. It produces and transmits three-dimensional maps of crude oil, diesel, gasoline and kerosene spills.

The Arctic Domain Awareness Center, ADAC, recently tested the technology in California. More tests this year and next - including under-ice tests - are planned.

Work began in 2015

DHS said the idea for the Tethys Long Range Autonomic Underwater Vehicle, LRAUV, was born out of the limited abilities to measure the spill from the 2010 Deep Water Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico.

Work began on LRAUV in January 2015.

Compared to limited measurement abilities in 2010, DHS said the LRAUV can rove for 15 days and travel for 373 miles without recharging batteries. The latest prototype can travel 2-4 feet per second (1-3 miles per hour).

The LRAUV is 8 feet long, 12 inches wide and weighs 240 pounds.

It would work in tandem with buoys installed on the ice to provide information about a spill.

“This vehicle is the first of its kind. We haven’t previously been able to characterize oil spills with an underwater vehicle under solid ice pack,” said ADAC Executive Director retired Major General Randy “Church” Kee.

Response capabilities

DHS said the technology opens up Coast Guard response capability. In the case, for example, of a large oil spill in the Russian Chukchi Sea with the spill drifting into U.S. waters, the Coast Guard could quickly mobilize a team to deploy the LRAUV, monitoring data transmitted from the robot at their command center. DHS said the robot would scan for oil “below and around the ice” and transmit via specially installed buoys.

The buoys, equipped with very high frequency antennas to transmit data via satellites, are important because there is no cellular coverage over the Arctic. In addition to transmitting data, the buoys would provide solar or wave power to recharge the robot’s batteries.

“Solar power units are increasingly very sensitive,” Kee said. “Even in dark conditions and snow-laden environments, solar panels can still capture light reflected from the ice.”

Testing

ADAC conducted an open-water test of the LRAUV prototype in Monterey Bay, California, in September. Goal of the test was to characterize an oil spill and transmit data back to shore.

“The researches showed us how LRAUV works; this was the first test with the oil sensors and data transmission in action,” said Trego.

The underwater robot was equipped with chemical sensors. An oil spill was simulated with a non-toxic, neon green sea dye which, like oil, can float in the top 13 feet of the water column. The dye biodegrades in sunlight in a matter of hours.

“This specific water test was intended to check all the prior work in the newly fabricated vehicle to characterize an oil spill,” Kee said.

The robot surfaced every few minutes to send and receive data and check its location with a cellular connection. DHS said that after several hours LRAUV had successfully scanned the whole area and transmitted the data for analysis.

Next steps

DHS said the LRAUV is being prepared for shipment to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Researchers will process navigation performance data from the California test and tune the navigation algorithms.

Then three communication buoys will be built and tested with the robot under ice. DHS said the target for testing is a large lake in New Hampshire, the Eastern Great Lakes or Alaska during the winter season.

Tests, including under-ice tests, and construction of communication relay buoys will be completed by the end of June, DHS said.

“The demonstration in September highlighted the unique capabilities of LRAUV, which will be a welcome addition to the suite of tools used to deal with oil spills,” Trego said. “We look forward to the further development of LRAUV’s capabilities, additional testing in real world conditions, and transitioning it into operation use.”






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