Page 48 - UD Research Magazine Vol5-No1

During fieldwork, the researchers crossed paths with BentProp, a group of individuals dedicated to returning World WarIIservicemenmissinginactionback to the United States. BentProp has spent the last 20 years conducting historical research, documenting firsthand accounts and launching annual land and water expeditions to search for missing aircraft.
“I felt connected to BentProp’s mission, but having the journal made the connection that much stronger,” explained Moline.
As they compared projects, Moline and Terrill realized that the underwater robotics technology used for their scientific work could significantly improve BentProp’s search efforts,
and established Project Recover,
with support from ONR.
Underwater robots known as autono- mous underwater vehicles, or AUVs, can be programmed to independently survey large swaths of the seafloor to deter- mine depth, water conditions and other oceanographic variables. With sonar and cameras on board, AUVs can capture images of sand ripples, coral reefs—and objects like airplanes.
REMUS 100
The Kongsberg
Hydroid REMUS 100
is a semi-modular
autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) used for coral reef studies, benthic habitat mapping, aircraft and shipwreck searches and surveys. Equipped with sidescan sonar, the REMUS 100 can detect the difference between aircraft metal and organic matter, which proved useful in helping to locate downed aircraft in the waters off Palau. An acoustic modem provides researchers with status and position updates while the vehicle is deployed on a mission, while a spectral radiometer helps researchers measure light levels of different frequencies in the vehicle’s location.
DIMENSIONS: Length: 1.6 m; Diameter: 19 cm MISSION DURATION: 5–8 hours
TRAVEL DISTANCE: 1–6 km
MAXIMUM DEPTH: 100 m
RECENT MISSION: Studying marine organisms in the Arctic Ocean.
potentially servicemen still in the plane,” said Moline, who attributes the discovery to the combination of BentProp’s histor- icalknowledgeoftheareaandarchival records, and the advanced robotics tech- nology provided by UD and Scripps.
Repatriating MIAs
The discoveries start the process of repatriating the MIAs through proper government channels. Information about the wrecks’ locations has been shared with the U.S. military, which will review the cases and determine whether servicemen’s remains can be returned to the United States—which is outside of the scope of the researchers’ and BentProp’s roles.
“We don’t disturb the wrecks at all,” said Hunter Brown, who manages UD’s fleet of underwater robots.
Brown and Megan Cimino, a UD oceanography graduate student, ran many of the AUV missions in Palau and scoured through hours of footage at the end of long days of fieldwork.
“You put so much time into doing these operations every day, and to actually find something ... it was really rewarding,” Cimino said.
HHH
46 | UD RESEARCH
Using historical documentation to guide their search, the UD and Scripps teams began systematically scanning the oceanbottomin2013,zeroinginon promising search areas.
The data collected provided scien- tifically valuable information, and even captured footage of a Japanese Kawanishi airplane, one of only a handful produced. While the sighting demonstrated the AUV’s capabilities, it was not the aircraft they were looking for.
Moline and his BentProp colleagues returned to the case files on particular airmen and incidents of missing aircraft, combing the documents in search of clues. Moline stumbled upon a document that named a small bay where, coincidentally, BentProp previously had discovered the wing of a U.S. TBM Avenger.
The group narrowed their search area and in March 2014, the AUVs found the remainder of the Avenger bomber, which had been missing in action for 70 years. A few days later, sonar images helped reveal a second aircraft, an F6F Hellcat, in a second location.
“It was an exciting time, but also a solemn time because you know there are
REMUS 600
The Kongsberg Hydroid REMUS 600 is a modular AUV used for deep research. The vehicle extends both the depth and duration of the Robotic Discovery Laboratory fleet by carrying larger sonar equipment deeper into the ocean. Dual frequency down-looking sonar, built specifically for the UD vehicle and used for biological research, extends the range of the sonar to approximately 4,000 feet. Applications for the work include hydrographic surveys, en- vironmental monitoring, search and salvage operations, coral reef studies, and sampling and mapping.
DIMENSIONS: Length: 6.096 m; Diameter: 32.4 cm MISSION DURATION: 8–60 hours
TRAVEL DISTANCE: 8–60 km
MAXIMUM DEPTH: 600 m
RECENT MISSION: Studying the distribution of food sources for whales off the California coast.