From: Jason D [mailto:geckojack@home.com]
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2001 1:34 PM
To: Scheel; Andrew B. McLauthlin; Tom Lind; Daniel Wilson; Josh Carnagie; Keith Chartier
Subject: Shadow

To:  Dr. Scheel
 
CC: CSM Shadow team, UA Shadow team
 
From: Jason Douglas, UA Shadow Team
 
 
Hello,
Well, we've gotten underway.  We've gone over what the Shadow II team had accomplished and learned all about their submarine.  We've read the NSF report, talked to the electronics team from CSM, and started to put together our plan for this year.  What we need now is some clarification from you on a few things.  I'm sorry the list is so long.....
 
When you're answering questions, please put a ** before the answer of any questions that has to do with a hard requirement, i.e.:
Does the submarine have to go underwater?  **yes, it does
Other answers will be treated as a "really nice to have if you can do it."
 
Power and Mission profile questions:
First, the requirements said it needed to spend three days underwater before being re-fitted.  We're going to need to break that down into time spent sitting and time spent following/videoing.  
What will a standard mission profile look like?  
How much follow/video time do you need per mission?
How much time should it be able to sit and wait?
How far should it be able to travel in a mission?
Is a three day mission necessary or would it be possible to retrieve the sub once a day to re-fit it?
How fast does an octopus move? 
Does the submarine have to move that fast?
I've read both 7m/s and 4 mph for submarine speeds, which do you need?
Does an octopus move in daytime or night?
How far does an octopus move in a day?
What depth will it be spending most of it's time in?
What will the octopus do if it gets ahold of Shadow?
There may be the possibility of using solar power to increase the mission time.  Would there be a problem if the submarine waited near the surface for motion instead of on the seafloor?
How much other boat traffic is in the area (will it get run over)?
 
 
Environment questions:
What are the light levels in the octopus's habitat?
What are the surface conditions likely to be?
Will it ever be in a surf zone?
What are the currents like on the seafloor (will it get washed away if it's sitting on the seafloor)?
Is the seafloor rocky, sandy, full of vegetation or all of the above?
What is the temperature?
Will ice ever be a problem?
How much seaweed/kelp/things-that-get-caught-in-propellers are there?
 
Operational questions:
Is the 100lb weight limit absolute?
If not, what is the weight limit?  (i.e., must be operable by two men without a crane or lift)
What are the size restrictions? 
Will it have to be shipped?
What is the max time for re-fit?
What are any limits on tools and such in the field?
What is the limit on necessary support equipment?
How failsafe does it have to be? (would it be easy to simply send a diver in to get it if it failed to surface - or is it going to sink into some abysmal depths never to be seen again?)
 
Video Questions:
Is there a camera picked out?
Who is going to be buying and installing the camera?
Will the camera be gimbaled, or will the whole submarine be pointed?
If it will be gimbaled, will we be building the mount and mechanical portions?
How much lighting will it require? (This may be the single biggest limit on the length of time the submarine can shoot for.)
How stable must the video be?
How close to the octopus should it come?
Is there a distance from the octopus it should never be closer than?
 
Budget and timeline:
Are we building everything now, or are we going to build a vehicle and nav system now, and someone else will install a camera system later, or something else?
When will we know a budget?
 
Other questions:
What is FETCH!'s interest in the project?
Do they want to collaborate?
 
Here's a rundown on what we're thinking so far.  These estimates are based on research of other AUVs and some initial calculations.
A submarine that has an active mission (portion spent following and videoing) length of about 4 hours will weigh about 200 lbs.  If a LOT of lighting is required to video, then the mission will be shorter, or the sub will be heavier.  Most of the weight Shadow will be in the batteries.  There are some choices to be made about the weight vs. cost of the batteries.  The lowest cost option for batteries is Lead Acid batteries.  A pack of those could cost as little as $120.  An equivalent pack of NiMH batteries from batteries.com would cost up to $1300, though I'm sure we can find a volume discount somewhere.  These prices are for relative comparisons since the size of the pack is nowhere near nailed down yet.
 
I'm sure we will have more questions as we go.
I look foreword to hearing form you,
Jason Douglas