LU, Baiden looking at light for underwater communications.

Greater Sudbury -- From horses to cars, typewriters to computer and radios to television, some of the greatest inventions were born from unconventional wisdom.

A new communication system installed into the latest underwater telerobotic machine is garnering world-class attention.

"This should be the fastest that anyone has ever communicated in the world," says Dr. Greg Baiden, president of Penguin Automated Systems Inc., Laurentian University's director of engineering and Canada Research Chair in Robotics in Mine Automation.

Baiden and the team at Laurentian have developed a high-capacity underwater telecommunications system capable of operating underwater tele-machines. A tele-machine is an underground machine controlled through an aboveground operator using a broadband communication network.

In this case, a positioning system with fibre optic light buoys and an above-water telecommunications system optically transmits and receives information to and from the tele-submersible.

Now, new research is underway to further explore methods that will enable the buoys and robots to communicate with enough capacity to transmit video information. It is called optical spherical communication. Light emitting diodes (LED) transmit information in much the same fashion sailors used signal lamps to flash messages between ships at sea, Baiden says.

Instead of communicating from a point-to-point system as they have successfully done, researchers are investigating a point to broadcast transmission system. The task will be to get the submersible to "talk," or show viewers above the water what is happening beneath it. Researchers have created an envelope of light communication, Baiden says, but not one with enough capacity to get a spectrum of visual information. Currently, their capacity sits at about 115 kilobits per second. An improved set of electronics will put the communication system at 16 megabits per second, enabling it to transmit in real time with no lag.

"This is the first time anyone in the world has done any spherical communication," Baiden says. "That is what has caught people's attention."

His work has caught the eye of scholarly innovators from the Florida-based Kennedy Space Center to the International Conference of Mechatronics Technology held in Malaysia this past December. Government agencies in Canada and abroad see his work as having tremendous applications and have submitted letters in support of his continued work.

Where Baiden would truly like to see his ideology embraced is in the mining sector. He says, his work is a wake up call for companies that want to stay competitive to embrace unconventional methods.

De Beers Canada pumps out 100,000 cubic metres of water from the Victor site every day.

"Would it not be easier to pump out a few diamonds with a little machine?" Baiden asks. "It is not hard to get research money to work on this."

Seventy per cent of the world's landmass is underwater. It makes sense both financially and practically to consider underwater mining using telesubmersibles with drill arms, and scoop buckets, according to Baiden.

Two-kilometre-deep mines like Sudbury's Creighton have a host of challenges and companies may find it easier to mine through liquid rather than solid rock. By filling the mine with water, then using the submersibles to extract ore at greater depths, companies can cut down on bottlenecks at the shaft and high overhead costs, Baiden says.

Introducing change must be a part of Canada's global competitiveness strategy. That does not mean people embrace disruptive change, but part of his job is to introduce these theories so the industry and the world can benefit from a new knowledge base, he says.

www.penguinasi.com

www.laurentianu.ca

By KELLY LOUISEIZE

Northern Ontario Business