The Deep Submergence Laboratory at the Woods Hole Oceano- graphic Institution will undertake a cooperative project with the Naval Oceanographic Office to upgrade the Teleprobe ocean science vehicle system. The Teleprobe system is a towed photographic and side-scan sonar vehicle system with several integrated environmental sensors. The upgrade will primarily consist of developing an electro-optic tow cable and associa- ted hardware and data transmission protocols for the vehicle using the new fiber optic link. Technological advances needed to accomplish these upgrades will have direct relevance to long-term NSF ocean science requirements for upgrading tethered and suspended research instrumentation packages. Anticipated benefits that should accrue from this project include: 1) enhanced reliability and cost reductions associated with gathering data from the deep sea, 2) improved data quality and data flow because of increased bandwidth over presently used coaxial cable, 3) broadened spectrum of users of fiber optic technology and 4) further development, refinement, and documentation of a technology base for fiber optic oceanographic cables.
