Overview
The efficiency and effectiveness of any search and salvage operation is the direct result
of initial research put into the design of the operation and of the characteristics and adaptability of the equipment available
for use in the operations. To these ends UnderSea Recovery has an ongoing scientific research and development program designed to develop new technologies specifically for use in historic shipwreck search and recovery operations.
Currently the industry is very dependent on advances in technology, especially for deep-water recovery operations 300 feet deep and greater. One way UnderSea Recovery Corporation expects to differentiate itself is through proprietary technology such as: the ATLIS® system, the 3-D High Resolution Sub-Bottom Imaging SONAR that is currently being developed, and Rapidly-Reconfigurable Polymorphic Remotely Operated Devices (RR-PRODs). We expect these innovative developments will allow the company to save money and time and enable the recovery of previously unreachable items.
ATLIS® is a marine-based technology quite different from any other in existence. It is a remote-sensing system with the ability to differentiate between nonferrous metals (such as gold, silver and platinum) when they are found scattered among a background of ferrous (iron-bearing) materials and artifacts and among more modern, uninteresting debris such as aluminum cans. This is the usual situation often encountered when searching for precious metals in historic shipwreck sites within the world’s oceans. ATLIS® can detect nonferrous metals that, over the centuries, have settled below the ocean floor. It can also detect these metals through rock, mud, silt, coral, sand and all things usually found at such sites.
The Sub-Bottom Imaging SONAR is expected to save operational resources since the field team will not have to use manned submersibles to examine sea bottom surface features or to conduct sub-bottom surveys in turbid or other low visibility waters where visibility is limited to a range such that underwater light based cameras cannot be used. This catadioptric acoustic imaging system is also expected to overcome both the bandwidth limitations and the two dimensional limits of the standard systems, allowing for a larger search area in less time with better resolution.
Additionally, UnderSea Recovery Corporation is currently developing a number of unique remote-sensing (detection) and ancillary technologies.
The RR-PRODs are expected to greatly improve the flexibility of salvage equipment and save reconfiguration time. This flexibility is expected to not only allow for rapid optimization of the salvage equipment without having to return to port for equipment changes, but also allow for novel on-the-spot configurations to be adapted to the field conditions of any particular site.