Re: Experimental ROV Design using Blue Robotics Components
Posted: Jan 29th, 2016, 12:09 pm
Hi All,
It has been almost a month since I last posted and the reason being that I was awaiting the receipt of a tether and interface boards to continue on with the construction of my ROV. Well, I do not have to wait to post anymore as the tether and the interface boards have arrived!
The neutral buoyancy tether cable. and the ROV and Topside interface boards are a beta test versions from Blue Robotics and are not yet available from the Blue Robotics Store. I was fortunate enough to be selected by Rusty to test these beta version components and plan to quickly integrate them into my ROV project and provide Rusty with constructive feedback, if any, as to their functionality. Please remember that I am working with beta components and therefore there may be changes to the final versions depending on the results of the beta testing.
I received 75 meters of the neutral buoyancy tether cable. The construction of the tether is as follows:
The Tether is a high quality tether cable designed specifically for ROVs and other subsea applications. It is neutrally buoyant, has 500+ lb breaking strength, and is embedded with water-blocking fibers to seal any leaks. The tether has a diameter of 7.6mm and is slimmer than the vast majority of comparable ROV tethers.
The tether carries four unshielded twisted pairs (UTP) of 26AWG wire. These pairs are colored and arranged in the same fashion as a Cat5 networking cable including cross-talk resistance. Each pair is individually jacketed inside the cable to maintain reliable properties and minimize interference between each pair of wires.
The core of the cable contains Kevlar strands for strength and Dacron fibers for space filling. Both fibers are impregnated with water-blocking compound to block any leaks caused by nicks or rips in the cable. The high-visibility yellow polyethylene foam jacket resists abrasion and provides neutral buoyancy.
The stiffness of the cable is designed to be flexible enough to give plenty of freedom to your ROV, but stiff enough that it does not become tangled easily.
Here are a couple of pictures of the exterior and interior of the tether cable:
The interface boards provide low-latency video, a serial port connection, and remote power on/off switch for tethers up to 300m length. They can be used with the neutral buoyancy tether or a Cat5+ network cable. The interface boards appear to be of high quality with thick printed circuit base material and extremely legible legends on the board silk screen.
The Tether Interface Board Set is open-source and open-hardware, so the schematics and board files are free to view, modify, and reuse. The electrical schematic and board layout are open-source and the design files will be available to all end users.
I plan to start integrating the tether and the ROV-side Interface Board into my Navigation Controller WTC this weekend and will then give consideration to selecting a topside cabinet for the Topside Interface Board.
Once again, please remember that these are beta test components and could be subject to change in their physical and electrical configurations and specifications before becoming available in the Blue Robotics Store.
More to come.
Regards,
SSN626B/TCIII
It has been almost a month since I last posted and the reason being that I was awaiting the receipt of a tether and interface boards to continue on with the construction of my ROV. Well, I do not have to wait to post anymore as the tether and the interface boards have arrived!
The neutral buoyancy tether cable. and the ROV and Topside interface boards are a beta test versions from Blue Robotics and are not yet available from the Blue Robotics Store. I was fortunate enough to be selected by Rusty to test these beta version components and plan to quickly integrate them into my ROV project and provide Rusty with constructive feedback, if any, as to their functionality. Please remember that I am working with beta components and therefore there may be changes to the final versions depending on the results of the beta testing.
I received 75 meters of the neutral buoyancy tether cable. The construction of the tether is as follows:
The Tether is a high quality tether cable designed specifically for ROVs and other subsea applications. It is neutrally buoyant, has 500+ lb breaking strength, and is embedded with water-blocking fibers to seal any leaks. The tether has a diameter of 7.6mm and is slimmer than the vast majority of comparable ROV tethers.
The tether carries four unshielded twisted pairs (UTP) of 26AWG wire. These pairs are colored and arranged in the same fashion as a Cat5 networking cable including cross-talk resistance. Each pair is individually jacketed inside the cable to maintain reliable properties and minimize interference between each pair of wires.
The core of the cable contains Kevlar strands for strength and Dacron fibers for space filling. Both fibers are impregnated with water-blocking compound to block any leaks caused by nicks or rips in the cable. The high-visibility yellow polyethylene foam jacket resists abrasion and provides neutral buoyancy.
The stiffness of the cable is designed to be flexible enough to give plenty of freedom to your ROV, but stiff enough that it does not become tangled easily.
Here are a couple of pictures of the exterior and interior of the tether cable:
The interface boards provide low-latency video, a serial port connection, and remote power on/off switch for tethers up to 300m length. They can be used with the neutral buoyancy tether or a Cat5+ network cable. The interface boards appear to be of high quality with thick printed circuit base material and extremely legible legends on the board silk screen.
The Tether Interface Board Set is open-source and open-hardware, so the schematics and board files are free to view, modify, and reuse. The electrical schematic and board layout are open-source and the design files will be available to all end users.
I plan to start integrating the tether and the ROV-side Interface Board into my Navigation Controller WTC this weekend and will then give consideration to selecting a topside cabinet for the Topside Interface Board.
Once again, please remember that these are beta test components and could be subject to change in their physical and electrical configurations and specifications before becoming available in the Blue Robotics Store.
More to come.
Regards,
SSN626B/TCIII