The United States faces decisions requiring information about the oceans in vastly expanded scales of time and space and from oceanic sectors not accessible with the suite of tools now used by scientists and engineers. Advances in guidance and control, communications, sensors, and other technologies for undersea vehicles can provide an opportunity to understand the oceans' influence on the energy and chemical balance that sustains humankind and to manage and deliver resources from and beneath the sea. This book assesses the state of undersea vehicle technology and opportunities for vehicle applications in science and industry. It provides guidance about vehicle subsystem development priorities and describes how national research can be focused most effectively.


Table of Contents


Front Matter
Executive Summary
Introduction
Undersea Vehicle Capabilities and Technologies
Vital National Needs
Priorities for Future Development
Enhancing the Nation's Capacity for Undersea Work and Research
Conclusions and Recommendations
Appendices
A Biographical Sketches of Committee Members
B Foreign Developments
C Development of Deep Submersible Vehicles in the United States:
1958-1994
D U.S. Government Agencies That Own and/or Use Submersibles
Acronyms