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ABE Specifications

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General

Dimensions: Length = 3 m, width = 2 m, height = 2.5 m
Weight: 550 kg
Operating range: 20-40 km (14-20 hours)
   
Energy: Lithium Ion batteries (5 kWh)
Consumption: Hotel load: < 50W
  Total: 210-300W (depending on mission type)
Recharge time: Maximum of 12 hours (80% recharge in ~6 hours)
Bus power: 42-60 Volts DC (for sensors)
   
Survey speed: 0 to 1.4 kt (top speed)
Descent time: 1,000 m/hr (expendable weights for descent and ascent)
Navigation: Long baseline acoustic transponders
  Doppler Velocity Log
   

Standard Sensors

ABE is equipped with a standard suite of science and engineering sensors (see below). In addition, ABE is a sufficiently flexible platform that additional sensors can be interfaced by PIs according to their specific interests and scientific needs.

Engineering sensors
• Paroscientific pressure sensor, rated to ≥4,500 m
• Attitude sensors (pitch, roll, heading)

Geophysical sensors
• SIMRAD SM2000 200 kHz multibeam sonar, rated to 3,000 m
• Imagenex 675kHz scanning sonar, rated to ≥4,500 m
• 3-component Develco fluxgate magnetometer, rated to ≥4,500 m

Oceanographic sensors
• 2 sets of conductivity, temperature sensors, SeaBird models SBE3 & SBE4, rated to ≥4,500 m
• SeaPoint optical backscatter sensor (OBS) rated to ≥4,500 m

Seafloor photography
• a 1024 x 1024 pixel 12-bit digital still camera, rated to ≥4,500 m

Project-specific sensors interfaced to ABE by PIs during recent cruises
• Eh electrode (redox sensor) - Dr.Koichi Nakamura, Japan
• Fe(II) and Mn sensors - Prof Chris German, SOC, United Kingdom

Note: All sensor data are stored on the vehicle and retrieved upon recovery.