This, however, does not preclude the requirement for monitoring vehicle activity whenever possible. The cable-laying mission introduces a unique opportunity for communication, namely the fiber optic cable itself. During the outbound phase of the mission, Theseus will use the cable as a communications channel to the operator console at the mission operations site. During the inbound phase of the mission, Theseus will be capable of communicating with surface-based personnel using an acoustic telemetry system. Arctic field trials of a 50 bps system have yielded ranges of more than 4km in a shallow, high multipath environment, and 8km in deeper waters.
Reliability begins at the design stage.
Theseus is being designed using a top-down, structured approach. The single role of under-ice cable laying drives the Vehicle Specifications, which then results in a System Specification. The AUV System can then be broken down into subsystems, or i ndividual components which are relatively self-contained. Individual designers can then concentrate on the detailed design of each subsystem. Good systems engineering techniques and continued communication between the designers helps ensure that the entire system operates as required.