Patent ID: 8773947

Claim:
An apparatus for in situ geotechnical measurement of an underwater bed of a body of water, the apparatus comprising: a seabed platform which in use is disposed on the underwater bed; a depth penetration device which comprises a drillstring; an underwater bed testing tool which in use is received within a borehole in the underwater bed; and a probe assembly which in use is received within the borehole in the underwater bed, comprising: a first coupling for operatively connecting the probe assembly to the depth penetration device; a second coupling for operatively connecting the probe assembly to the underwater bed testing tool; and a plurality of modules which in use are assembled together and configured so that the plurality of modules can be received within the borehole, the plurality of modules including a signal processing module for processing information received from the underwater bed testing tool, a data transmission module for the wireless transmission of data through the drillstring from the signal processing module to the seabed platform, and a power source module for powering the data transmission module, the signal processing module and the underwater bed testing tool, the plurality of modules further comprising a switch module which includes a switch device which can electrically connect and disconnect the power source module to the data transmission module, the signal processing module and the underwater bed testing tool when the probe assembly is in the region of the seabed platform.