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C & C Technologies, Inc. of Lafayette, Louisiana is spearheading a technical research program to advance the state of the art regarding under ice Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) survey operations. This program, funded by Shell, focuses on five areas of research, which include: 1) Remote Stations for AUV Navigation and Communication, 2) AUV Recovery by Net, 3) AUV Recovery by ROV, 4) AUV Upward Looking Multibeam Sonar, and 5) Collision Avoidance. Form factors for the remote stations were developed following the evaluation of the potential hardware components and an examination of AUV mission requirements. Analysis was performed to determine how best to utilize the remote stations to gain the maximum utility of an AUV under the ice. Two methods for facilitating the recovery of an AUV under ice were examined: 1) recovery by a deployed net and 2) recovery by an ROV. Net recovery research involved the construction of a full-scale prototype to deploy through a hole in the ice, extend, and capture the AUV. Research into ROV recovery under ice included developing a methodology to hold the AUV in place so it could be captured by the ROV. This involved the evaluation of several scenarios, which included securing the AUV to the sea floor with a drop anchor and making the AUV negatively buoyant with either a floodable ballast tank or by the release of syntactic foam. Research into the integration of an upward looking multibeam involved the analysis of currently available systems. A comparative analysis of power consumption, size, weight, and software interfacing of the potential candidate systems was performed. C & C collaborated with Kongsberg Maritime to enhance the HUGIN AUV's collision avoidance system for under ice navigation and for marine mammal detection. This paper provides details on each of these five areas of research and details the scope, methodology, findings, and resulting recommendations. Concept Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) are common and effective tools for seabed surveys and subsea surveillance, with benefits over conventional tow-fish systems that include reduced operational footprint, independence from weather and sea conditions, and better data quality. Their use in the Arctic is challenged by the presence of sea ice, which requires technological developments in the key areas of navigation and communications, through-ice launch and recovery, and collision avoidance.

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This paper describes the design, testing and installation phases of a cooperative effort between FSSL, Inc., Oceaneering, Slingsby Engineering, Ltd., and Subsea International in developing an ROV installable electrohydraulic connector to meet the requirements of BHP Petroleum for its Griffin Field. The effort resulted in the design of a method that improves system reliability, reduces equipment costs, and can be employed by RO Vs regardless of their manufacturer. 894.