US Navy Upgrades Its Deep Drone ROV

US Navy’s 8,000-foot depth capable remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Deep Drone recently received a complete upgrade from Phoenix International Holdings, Inc.

All work was performed under a multi-year contract with the US Navy’s Office of Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV).

The upgrade included installing a new umbilical, sonar, high definition camera, LED lighting system, an updated frame, and a new foam pack. In addition, Phoenix installed a completely new Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) based vehicle control system. This new PLC based control system was designed to increase the vehicle’s bandwidth to accommodate advanced sensors and provide intuitive, accessible functionality to allow ROV technicians to address common software related challenges.

Once fully tested in the laboratory environment, the system was tested with the vehicle operating in Phoenix’s above ground vehicle test tank. A final series of open ocean system tests were conducted aboard USNS Grasp (T-ARS-51) near Andros Island, Bahamas. Following these successful tests, the upgrade was complete and Deep Drone was placed back into a mission-ready status.

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Press release, Image: US Navy