Automating hull inspection. (Tech Talk).

A ship hull-inspection system, called AquaMap ShipHull, is designed to function with Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROVs)--an underwater robot that is controlled through an umbilical cable--and tethered-diver operations.

AquaMap Shiphull consists of four small baseline stations, which are lowered over the side of the ship, plus an interrogator that is mounted on the ROV or diver.

Setup takes 10 to 20 minutes on a typical 500-foot ship, explained Marco Flagg, the chief engineer of Desert Star Systems, in Marina, Calif.

Applications include ship-hull mine and contraband searches, ship inspection and maintenance, hull damage assessment, and dam and dock inspections.

The task-specific software was derived from several years of ship hull-inspection research for the U.S. Navy and private companies, he said.

AquaMap Shiphull provides the surface operator with starboard, port and bottom views of the hull and keeps track of the diver or ROV on a digitized plan of the ship.

The system traces the ROV or diver's movement across the hull. The surface operator can also record details for certain positions, indicating for example the location of contraband or damage to the hull. Its accuracy is better than one meter, sometimes as good as 0.15 meter, Flagg said.