Submarine cable handling system for deep underwater vehicles

A coaxial submarine telecommunication cable between Okinawa and Guam terminated its service in 1994 after 20 years operation and handed over for scientific use. Several research institutes planned and carried out a project to install complex scientific sensor systems to this demission coaxial submarine cable, under the funds from Science and Technology Agency of Japan. This is a foremost observatory which is installed to demission telecommunication cable and it is named VENUS (Versatile Eco-Monitoring Network by Undersea-Cable System) project. Navigation of the sensor system to the location of deployment is one of the most important aspects for VENUS. To solve the problem, JAMSTEC (Japan Marine Science and Technology Center) developed a cable handling system which has a performance to realize the precise cable control. This system consists of a cable cutter, cable grippers and its power unit which is electrically powered from underwater vehicle and generates hydraulic pressure to actuate the cutter and gripper. This system is designed to have an ability to amputate the submarine cable at the exact point on deep seafloor and lift it to the surface.