Applied Underwater Robotics Lab (AUR-Lab) shall procure a new remote operating underwater vessel (ROV) for research. The ROV ought to be an electrical observation ROV, see the Norwegian Standard U102. The ROV shall mainly be used on NTNU's research vessel ‘Gunnerus’, but it shall be used down to 3 000 m depth, but is also ought to be a good and mobile platform for research in shallow water along the coast and in the fjords. It will also be used in polar environments, from ice-breakers and in tropical areas.
The ROV shall be used for technical development and testing, but also for geological and biological observation, measurements and sample taking. This can vary from sample taking and observation of small bacteria colonies to sample taking from seabed sediments and rock formations.
The ROV shall be a platform for advanced sensor equipment and it will be used to measure physical and chemical parameters. It will also be a tool for mapping and picturing the seabed with multi-ray echo sounders and side-searching sonar. The documentation and communication of marine research and underwater scenes uses photography, so HD/Ultra HD video will be an important assignment.
The ROV shall be used for testing technology developed by NTNU, in particular by the research centre AMOS. Engineers and researchers must be able to take control of the vessel at a low and high level through software. This can be solved through:
1. The vessel being based on an open source code;
2. NTNU gets access to the software from the supplier and there is a ‘Non-disclosure agreement’ between NTNU and the supplier;
3. The supplier creates a ‘Software Development Kit (SDK)’ that gives NTNU access to read and check the vessel's instruments, thrusts, pumps, manipulators, etc.
For further information on the contract's object see the specifications in annex 1 (attached).