The Hadal Water Column Profiler is designed to free-fall to the seabed and return autonomously. Key design requirements include being able to operate at the deepest part of the ocean (~11km), and getting as close to the seabed as possible without hitting the mud at the bottom. The scientific instruments onboard measure parameters for physical oceanography and marine biology studies. It is capable of collecting water samples at programmed depths.

The scientific instruments and vehicle hardware come from various university groups and commercial vendors in the USA, Canada, and Australia. Some of the instruments are experimental/one-offs while the others are commercial-off-the-shelf. I design and write the software to integrate all electrical and software components. This includes designing the autonomous control logic, validation and tests, and user interface etc.

Link to more photos