Some Post USS TEXAS recovery thoughts

[TuptubBuilder]

The following are just “Pie in the sky” thoughts but are doable with currently available hardware.

1. Bathymetric Surveying. By definition, “a bathymetric survey measures and maps the depths and underwater features of a water body, such as a lake, river, or ocean, to create a detailed picture of the seafloor or riverbed”. Blue Robotics’ Blue Boat could be configured to do this although hardware costs are considerable. This boat could be time shared between groups or individuals to mitigate the initial cost.
2. Traffic Controller. A surface boat with forward facing sonar array could track all boats within range. It would run Ardupilot and be kept in loiter mode. Once again, the same Blue Boat could be used for the task. I have no expertise on this matter so I’m not sure how distinguishable each boat’s signature would be. A ground station would provide visual data for all skippers. Again, lots of pricey tech but doable.

I know it’s a pipe dream but I’m just throwing it out there.

[Das Boot]

Huh? Like, Huh?

[TuptubBuilder]

1. Map the bottom of the body of water for depth and debris/weeds. Use the information to select the best sites for diving.
2. Use a surface boat to scan 100 yards ahead with sonar like a fish finder but for rc subs. Use a flight controller with Ardupilot (flight control software) on a surface boat and use wifi to transmit the sonar scan back to shore where it can be viewed on a screen. Ardupilot keeps the boat in one place using loiter mode. This approach is more practical, IMHO, than trying to stuff sonar in an rc sub.

[JHapprich]

What about miniature SOSUS in your local SimLantic/PacNeighbouring Ocean/Baltic Lake?

don't dive in dirt

Fishfinder might work

[TuptubBuilder]

It is my hope that the trend of cheap, easy to use tech continues. Just a decade ago gyro boards were unavailable to the hobbyist. A company called Adafruit changed that. Right now imaging sonar is expensive. Hopefully it ends up costing hundreds not thousands and is a simple "plug and play" app.

[Wax Savage]

The following are just “Pie in the sky” thoughts but are doable with currently available hardware.

1. Bathymetric Surveying. By definition, “a bathymetric survey measures and maps the depths and underwater features of a water body, such as a lake, river, or ocean, to create a detailed picture of the seafloor or riverbed”. Blue Robotics’ Blue Boat could be configured to do this although hardware costs are considerable. This boat could be time shared between groups or individuals to mitigate the initial cost.
2. Traffic Controller. A surface boat with forward facing sonar array could track all boats within range. It would run Ardupilot and be kept in loiter mode. Once again, the same Blue Boat could be used for the task. I have no expertise on this matter so I’m not sure how distinguishable each boat’s signature would be. A ground station would provide visual data for all skippers. Again, lots of pricey tech but doable.

I know it’s a pipe dream but I’m just throwing it out there.

Someone already made a floating RC mapping tool. See this Youtube video..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPErWzWCk7I&t=91s

[TuptubBuilder]

Thanks. It looks like my Rescue Boat Project is going to suffer a bad case of scope creep.

[NicholasRadzykewycz]

Thanks. It looks like my Rescue Boat Project is going to suffer a bad case of scope creep.

Based on my personal observations and design for my own boat which will have the forward facing sonar I highly recommend these units: https://deepersonar.com/en-us/produc...er-sonar-pro-2

They are wi-fi based so they run on the surface, they can do bathymetric mapping over time, their cost is not incredibly high, they can see weeds very well if you adjust the sensitivity correctly, and they have a decent field of view and range and are small enough to fit aboard most RC boats. Especially if you take them out of their case and waterproof them and equip them with external antennas. The manufacturer has been very supportive when I contacted them about using them for RC Submarines. There are vastly better sonar units out there that you can get for $15,000 or so that are meant for mostly autonomous vehicles that could be used, but I think at $200 or so after shipping the Deeper Sonar is the best all around solution for hobbyists.

From the practical experience on the lake with the $800 hummingbird with side scan sonar on the raft and what we now know from the actual recovery of the Texas, in soft muddy lake bottoms a great portion of the boat would have been concealed in the mud, only really in front of the conning tower was stuck up in the weeds and able to be found. The sonar contact location we did get with the Hummingbird might have not been repeatable because of the very small target size and limited cone angle of those sonars requiring a very precise alignment to find the boat, or perhaps it was in fact a large turtle and the submarine's presence in that location was coincidence. It's difficult to say after the fact.

This is not just an issue for our model submarines either, the real ones get tangled in stuff too: https://www.mirasafety.com/blogs/new...arine-accident

[TuptubBuilder]

Based on my personal observations and design for my own boat which will have the forward facing sonar I highly recommend these units: https://deepersonar.com/en-us/produc...er-sonar-pro-2

They are wi-fi based so they run on the surface, they can do bathymetric mapping over time, their cost is not incredibly high, they can see weeds very well if you adjust the sensitivity correctly, and they have a decent field of view and range and are small enough to fit aboard most RC boats. Especially if you take them out of their case and waterproof them and equip them with external antennas. The manufacturer has been very supportive when I contacted them about using them for RC Submarines. There are vastly better sonar units out there that you can get for $15,000 or so that are meant for mostly autonomous vehicles that could be used, but I think at $200 or so after shipping the Deeper Sonar is the best all around solution for hobbyists.

From the practical experience on the lake with the $800 hummingbird with side scan sonar on the raft and what we now know from the actual recovery of the Texas, in soft muddy lake bottoms a great portion of the boat would have been concealed in the mud, only really in front of the conning tower was stuck up in the weeds and able to be found. The sonar contact location we did get with the Hummingbird might have not been repeatable because of the very small target size and limited cone angle of those sonars requiring a very precise alignment to find the boat, or perhaps it was in fact a large turtle and the submarine's presence in that location was coincidence. It's difficult to say after the fact.

This is not just an issue for our model submarines either, the real ones get tangled in stuff too: https://www.mirasafety.com/blogs/new...arine-accident

Thanks much for the info. It's time for due diligence. Do you have any knowledge of CARP PILOT PRO by any chance?

[NicholasRadzykewycz]

Thanks much for the info. It's time for due diligence. Do you have any knowledge of CARP PILOT PRO by any chance?

Nope, not used it before. Curious if anyone else has.