URI engineering professor produces the world’s smallest deep-sea system, which can provide real-time video streaming

Kingston, Rio de Janeiro-May 5, 2021-Many answers to the mysteries of life have been discovered far below the surface of the sea. However, reaching these depths is not easy.

As Brennan Phillips, assistant professor of marine engineering at the University of Rhode Island, invented a new fiber optic reel system, deep-sea exploration is about to become more affordable and more accessible.

Phillips has worked on large research ships around the world, and he is very aware of the costs, planning, and scale involved in deep-sea exploration.

"If you have a large underwater vehicle, you need several people to operate it and a large research ship to operate it, which is very expensive," Phillips said. "By making vehicles smaller, cables smaller, and winches smaller, we can save a lot of money and travel to more places in the world."

Two years ago, Phillips created a tiny, inexpensive deep-sea camera system called DEEPi. However, he still had to rely on a large research ship to go to sea. This led him to develop a small deployment system.

"It all boils down to the diameter of the cable," Phillips said. "When you have 4,000 meters in length, a three-quarter inch diameter cable will end up weighing several tons, which means you need a huge winch to match it. If you make the cable smaller, everything Will shrink accordingly."

After experimenting with custom-designed cables that were still too wide, Phillips ended up using something that can be seen everywhere in Rhode Island during the summer, a fishing reel.

Phillips said: "I think there is a winch that can take me somewhere deep in the ocean, but I can put it in a suitcase." "The electric fishing reel is essentially a miniature winch, ready to use. "

After solving the scale problem, Phillips' next step was to figure out how a cable small enough to be wrapped around a fishing reel could transmit data, including video, in real time underwater.

"We don't have that kind of cable with optical fiber for data transmission, so we have to invent it," Phillips said.

Since there was no necessary equipment to integrate the optical fiber into the fishing line, Phillips asked for help from Jim Owens, head of the Potucket Nautilus Defense Company.

"When I told Jim that I wanted to make a fiber optic fishing line, I thought he would say'That's impossible' or'I can't do it,'" Phillips said. "But he said,'I think we can do this, which surprised me.' A week later, he sent me a prototype."

"Brennan has very clear parameters and goals for the system, and he asked us to operate according to our project," Owens said. "We have developed an optical fiber tether with high quality and volume efficiency using our internal braiding equipment."

With the fishing reel and fishing line of the same scale as the deep-sea camera he had developed before, Phillips has successfully produced the smallest and most compact deep-sea system in the world that can provide live video.

The fiber optic reel system is described in the April 2021 issue of Sensors. Co-authors of this journal article with Phillips are URI marine engineering students Nicholas Chaloux and Russell Shomberg; Adriana Muñoz-Soto, who has interned in the Mayagüez project at the University of Puerto Rico; and Owens.

Phillips and Owens have applied for a provisional patent for the fiber optic reel system, which is sponsored by URI and Nautilus Defense.

Phillips began researching fiber optic reel systems before the pandemic began, but conducted most of the tests during the pandemic.

In the summer of 2020, he deployed the system several times in the narrow river of Rhode Island, where the level is quiet and flat. He used his own private boat for testing. The other conducted another test in Narragansett Bay near Newport.

The first deep-water test took place late in the summer and took a boat to the Atlantis Canyon, 100 miles off the coast of Falmouth, Massachusetts.

Phillips said: "Due to the pandemic, many large ships could not be accessed at the time." "But because we have this compact reel system, we can bring only three people—me, the captain, and one of my students—to complete this time. Travel, and it’s still safe for COVID."

At a depth of 350 meters, the system successfully transmitted real-time video throughout the cast, capturing shots of krill, sea anemones, benthic fish, and other creatures and phenomena, including bioluminescent flashes.

The reel system was further tested in Bermuda in December 2020, reaching 780 meters. As in the previous test, there was no problem with the deployment and retrieval of the system.

"The results were better than I expected," Phillips said. "I never really believed that it would work because the system included several components that I had never tried before. I'm sure I would scream with my lungs when it really worked."

Since the size and weight of the optical fiber reel system is only a small part of the system using traditional winches, cables and cameras, much smaller ships can be used to transport the system.

Phillips said: "We can use a fishing boat instead of a 100-foot boat to bring this new system to the depths of the ocean." "This means that every time we go to sea, we save many times the cost of the usual surgery."

For researchers like Phillips, the fiber optic reel system will be a fast and low-cost way to acquire cameras, sensors, or physical sampling devices that need to transmit data deep underwater. But scientists will not be the only ones who can benefit from a system with these specifications.

Phillips said: "Currently, there is no way to deploy deep-sea equipment using autonomous ships or drones using winches weighing thousands of pounds." "But the US Navy may have some interesting applications for smaller and more compact things. "

As a commercial product, the system may change the rules of the game in fisheries.

Phillips said: "Being able to see your bait or what the bait sees has many benefits, especially in the depths of the ocean." "There are several systems on the market that can take pictures or record videos. You can watch them later, but The system will provide real-time video so that phishers can adapt to what they see in real time."

Phillips does not need to go far to see the reel system in operation. He hopes that engineering students at URI will find many creative ways to apply it to their projects.

“If we have this compact reel system that can be taken out on any boat any day, it’s really great for students because they can make all types of things,” Phillips said. "We can let students use this type of system to make their own deep-sea equipment."

Phillips is happy to see what the students will come up with.

"When I looked around my laboratory, I saw many successful and failed projects designed by students," Phillips said. "Through trial and failure, good projects happen like this."

Copyright © University of Rhode Island | University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881, USA | 1.401.874.1000

URI is an equal opportunity employer committed to the principle of affirmative action. Work at URI