Phoenix Upgrades US Deep Drone

Phoenix completes upgrading of the US Navy’s 8,000-foot depth capable remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Deep Drone. 

The upgrade included installing a new umbilical, sonar, high definition camera, LED lighting system, an updated frame, and a new foam pack.  In addition, and at the heart of the upgrade,

Phoenix installed a completely new Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) based vehicle control system.

This new PLC based control system was designed to increase the vehicle’s bandwidth to accommodate advanced sensors and provide intuitive, accessible functionality to allow ROV technicians to address common software related challenges (e.g., installing and integrating new sensors to address specific operational requirements). 

This approach had the added benefit of keeping Deep Drone fully operational during the control system development process.