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Some notes on ROVs: Most ROVs small enough to work in a cave do not use a Tether = Management System (TMS). Larger units of the Scorpion, Triton, Hysub = classes do. The TMS is suspended from the armored umbilical. The = tether is reeled in and out from it. This acts as a clump weight to = reduce drag on the tether. It is not unreeled from the ROV. There are = no commercially manufactured ROVs configured that way at this time. =20 An ROV does have more mission endurance than a diver. I've had one = submerged for over 14 days. It never whined about being cold or hungry = or scared. Even the small (relatively) inexpensive ones have a depth = rating of 300 to 500 FSW. When you're done, you yank it out; no five = days of decompression. Depending on the video cameras selected, you have greater low light = level vision than a diver. Stereo vision is possible. Sonar lets you = "see" beyond camera range and in turbid water, when you can't see = anything with the camera. ROVs excel at mapping. A Surveying package would give you all the data = you needed. DGPS coupled with a baseline nav setup gives you repeatable = accuracy of ~+ - 18cm. ROVs are routinely deployed in pipelines and tunnels. A vehicle with a = weight of about 1,200 lbs, and static bollard thrust of 300 lbs = penetrated a 15' diameter tunnel to the distance of 33,000 linear feet. = The sticking point is the umbilical and/or tether. To the extent that a cave resembled a man made tunnel, an ROV would work = very effectively. A cave system of complex structure; twists, turns and = restrictions; is another story.=20 If some one had the commitment to modify a vehicle to the task and = patience for the operators to refine their "touch", ROVs could make = excursions into caves. How effective a tool would be would not be known = until some one does it. Don't expect success the first time out, or the = second. It would be an exercises in frustration until an experience = base was built. BTW divers with a lot of cave experience would be prime = candidates as pilots. My $.02 DCW=20 =09 =09 =09
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