AUV Laboratory at MIT Sea Grant

Kythera, Greece 2004 :: Systematic Coverage and Inspection of Underwater Archaeological Sites Using AUVs

A summary of MIT AUV Lab operations at Kythera is available in PDF format.

I Executive Summary

During June 2004, the MIT Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Lab returned to the Aegean Sea off the coast of the island Kythira, Greece to deploy an Odyssey II (OII) class AUV with the hopes of completing work that began in 2001. The AUV Lab's team of engineers partnered with the Hellenic Center for Marine Research (NCMR) and the Ministry of Culture's underwater archaeologists to establish methods for using AUVs to search, localize, and then inspect of underwater sites of archaeological interest. In stark contrast to the 2001 expedition, the completely rebuilt and refurbished OII Xanthos established new milestones in the history of achievement for the AUV Lab. Systematic coverage of previously unknown areas, followed by methodical localization of targets on the sidescan sonar record culminated in high resolution digital still photographs of a WWII-era anchor and its intact fluke. The vehicle performed brilliantly: 10 hrs of bottom time, 0.5km^2 of coverage, mean error on distance traveled of 3%, over 3 hrs of sidescan sonar data, and approximately 10GB of 1.3 megapixel digital still shots. The trip was a legitimate success.