Site: Intershelf Ul. Galernaya, 69/71 St. Petersburg 190000 Russia Date Visited: May 21, 1993 Report Author: M. Lee ATTENDEES WTEC: N. Caplan A. Kalvaitis M. Lee HOSTS: Andrei Voronov Director Alexander Finkelshtain Technical Director BACKGROUND Intershelf is the St. Petersburg division of the Moscow-based company J.P. Kenny Intershelf. It is a joint venture company that pulls together Russian and British interests in underwater technology. The British partner is J.P. Kenny of London. Russian partners include Promstroibank and the Moscow State Building University. The company specializes in subsea vehicles and submersibles, and has a marketing focus on the mining, gas, and oil industries on the continental shelf. The company started in 1990 with three people and has now grown to eleven people. The company currently produces two products: a hand-held TV camera that is used by divers, and a small remotely operated vehicle. Intershelf also designs electromechanical, optical, and acoustic pipeline inspection systems. Intershelf would like to evolve to include environmental monitoring in the future. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES The product that was most emphasized was the low cost ROV Fish 102M. This ROV sells for $14,000, including cable handling, topside control, and a spare parts package. It only weighs 16 kg and can be launched by hand by one person. The company has sold fourteen of these vehicles to date. Intershelf's other product is a diver-held TV camera and light. This is similar to the camera and light on the Fish 102 ROV system. The team also saw a video of the vehicle Fish 103. This ROV has an operational depth of 6,000 m. It was installed on the submarine, Mir, and has been used on several of the Mir dives to inspect the sunken submarine Komsomolets. Subsequent to the WTEC panel's visits, in August of 1993, Fish 103 was involved in three dives to Komsomolets, during which time the ROV penetrated the first compartment of the stricken submarine, operating there for a total of 5 hours and recording 4 hours of video. The panel saw the body of this vehicle in the laboratory. Intershelf builds most of the vehicles, including the electronics, in the company's laboratory. SUMMARY Intershelf is a small entrepreneurial division of a Russian-British joint venture. It is positioned to tap into the vast base of skill and knowledge of underwater vehicles that exists in St. Petersburg. It has developed a couple of initial products and is beginning to work with Intershelf's main division on marketing, sales, distribution, and support for its activities. Fish 102M appears to be similar to other current low-cost ROVs on the market. REFERENCES Intershelf. St. Petersburg Press Release. Intershelf. Diving TV - Systems Specifications. Brochure. Intershelf. Deep-Water Surveillance Complex Fish 103M. Brochure. Intershelf. LC ROV Fish 102M. Brochure. Intershelf. High Resolution Side Scan Sonar. Brochure. Site: Kharax Company Ltd. Gogol St. 18-20 St. Petersburg 190000 Russia Date Visited: May 20, 1993 Report Author: M. Lee ATTENDEES WTEC: N. Caplan A. Kalvaitis M. Lee HOSTS: Michael Giers Director, Chief-Pilot Submarine Svetlana Giers Vice Manager Igor Brazshnikov Vice Manager Klapzov Rudolf Malachite Professor Glosman Mikhail St. Petersburg Admiralty Shipyard Sapelov Pavel Giproribflot BACKGROUND Kharax is one of the first private companies in Russia that is engaged in designing submersible vehicles. Kharax also operates, enhances, and maintains previously designed vehicles. The company has pilots and technicians who operate and maintain vehicles from all over the world. Kharax is investigating the concept of building an underwater tourism center. This is basically a large ship with observation rooms and divers rooms underneath. The company provides technical equipment for subsea expeditions of all purposes. One of the first expeditions was to look for the lost Korean 747 airliner. Company representatives gave the panel a book on this operation. The organization has 6 permanent employees and another 180 people who are employed in a jobshop structure. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES The company's main product is a deep diving tourist submarine. A picture of the model of this vehicle is included below. This vehicle is being designed to hold six persons plus two crew members. The feature that makes this vehicle different from other tourist submersibles is that it is being designed to go to depths of 300 m. The vehicle sells for $750,000, including the launch and recovery system. Kharax will also provide operators and support for the vehicles. The company's marketing analysis shows that there is demand for such a vehicle. Kharax also described an underwater tourist center that the company is proposing. This center would have accommodations for more than 40 persons; it would also have an underwater restaurant and diving facilities. Kharax also provides operations support, maintenance, and logistics and planning support for existing vehicle systems. SUMMARY Kharax is an entrepreneurial organization that has brought together talent, experience, and drive, and focused it on the objective of building a business around manned submersible technology. The company has its first product design well underway. Kharax has a small core of people in the organization's base, and jobshops out as many activities as possible. The company has an experience base that includes many innovative new concepts that it feels will bring success in this new enterprise. REFERENCES Leisure Submersible Apparatuses. Brochure. Center for Underwater Tourism. Brochure. Site: Committee for Underwater Operations of Special Purpose (KOPRON) Meeting held at: P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology 3 Krasikova St. Moscow 117851 Russia Date Visited: May 17, 1993 Report Author: L. Gentry ATTENDEES WTEC: L. Gentry R. Seymour HOSTS: Dr. Tengiz N. Borisov Chairman, KOPRON, at the Russian Federation Government Igor K. Abramov Expert of the Committee on Defense and Security of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation BACKGROUND The panel met at the Shirshov Institute for a presentation regarding a new committee being formed by the Yeltsin government to deal with the remediation and cleanup of undersea environmental hazards. The meeting was requested by Dr. Tengiz Borisov to appraise the WTEC panel of the plans and present status of this new committee of which he is chairman. The meeting was held at Shirshov only because it was convenient for Dr. Borisov, since his offices are in the Kremlin, which was not a possible meeting site at short notice. Members of the professional staff of the Shirshov Institute were also present, including the director of the institute. Dr. Borisov was accompanied by Mr. Igor Abramov, who represented the Russian Defense and Security Directorate and who spoke briefly after Dr. Borisov to present a united front for the new committee's message. The team was impressed by the emphasis of the two speakers that a joint concern of both President Yeltsin and Parliament exists, and that both are agreed about the urgency of doing something soon. The meeting, which was interpreted, lasted about 40 minutes. No technological information was conveyed. However, the message was clear that the Russian government is serious about the issue of ecological contamination, and also that it sees the problem as an international concern requiring cooperative funding. A brief discussion between the panel and the two committee representatives to clarify issues and identify future activities followed Dr. Borisov's presentation. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES No details on the committee's plans for research and development were presented, although Dr. Borisov implied that they have opportunities to transfer highly developed military technologies and systems to support KOPRON's work. He specifically mentioned capabilities to locate and encapsulate radioactive debris on the ocean floor. He said he would provide further information on what technologies are available to KOPRON later in the week before the panel left Moscow. Although he attempted to contact the panel later in the week, no additional information was received. He also indicated that he planned to deliver a paper at a conference to be held on 6 June at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. A close working relationship has developed between Dr. Borisov and WHOI. He indicated that representatives of KOPRON were expected in Russia the week of May 24, 1993. SUMMARY Dr. Borisov described his Committee for Underwater Operations of Special Purpose by making the following points: o The committee has recently been formed by the Russian government to plan and direct efforts to remediate or eliminate ecological hazards resulting from items that have been dumped in the seas (e.g., sunken nuclear submarines and chemical munitions). The organizing committee will be chaired by Dr. Borisov, who personally has over ten years of experience in this area and is a corresponding member of the Academy of Technological Sciences of Russia. Formation of the committee will be announced soon in TASS and through formal channels to the international community. The committee will also soon have an exclusive license to let contracts for underwater work in Russian waters. o The role of the committee includes: - Ecological field work - Mitigating the effects of potential eco-disasters - Monitoring the environment at sites of radioactive and chemical war materials o The committee has been given responsibility for dealing with sunken nuclear reactors on the seafloor in Russian waters, chemical munitions dumped after World War II in the Baltic Sea, and the Komsomolets problem in the Norwegian Sea. o His committee is also responsible for establishing an International Foundation for Underwater Works, which will include the efforts of sponsoring nations. An organizing committee has been set up and an initial meeting of the foundation is planned for early 1994, with official invitations to be extended to potential attendees. The meeting is intended to be intergovernmental, but interested private organizations may also attend and/or join the foundation. Each member will sit on the Council of Representatives, and a standing group of technical consultants will recommend actions that need to be taken. o Dr. Borisov stated that the foundation's "success will be due to its international nature with international expert counsel." He also touched on the possibility of investing in other projects (it was not clear if this meant outside of Russian waters). o The foundation's first step will be to establish risks and priorities, and to decide on methods and unique equipment requirements. The foundation will also take the early step of ecological monitoring, which will begin in the Russian Arctic and at the site of the Komsomolets. o Dr. Borisov said that he is not pushing membership in the foundation, but stressed that "together we can accomplish useful results." In any event, Russia will continue the work but, if it must operate alone, it will do so on a limited basis. o He also stressed that although there are differences within the Russian government on many things, all are in agreement about the importance of this project. He specifically mentioned agreement between the Government and the Academy of Science. Mr. Abramov then was introduced to speak for the Committee on Defense and Security. He made the following points: o "This (the foundation) is a good area for cooperation. It is a good field for cooperation between all forces for peace. My committee (of the parliament) will be very cooperative." o He cited the concern that we are "approaching ecological disaster day-by-day and this effort is the best step to take concrete action against the ecological bomb that has been set with disastrous consequences for future generations." o He also said that "we have a good opportunity to find joint solutions. With concrete results in this area we can speak on other areas." In the general discussions that followed, Dr. Borisov asked for assurances that his remarks would be in the WTEC panel's report. Dr. Seymour, the panel chairman, then explained that the WTEC charter is to evaluate undersea technologies, and not to report on programs or ecological issues. However, he was told that his remarks might be included as a general site report in the appendices to the report. Dr. Borisov mentioned that numerous technologies were available for the planned work, but when pressed would not be specific. He did allude to technologies for location and encapsulation of radiation sources, and for cutting apart structures using explosives. Site: Krylov Shipbuilding Research Institute 44, Moskovskoe Shosse St. Petersburg 196158 Russia Date Visited: May 19, 1993 Report Author: M. Lee ATTENDEES WTEC: N. Caplan A. Kalvaitis M. Lee HOSTS: Oleg M. Paliy Professor, Dir. of Tech. Sc., Head of Ship Hull and Structure Division Evgeny I. Lapin Head of Foreign Relations Department BACKGROUND Krylov is the principal shipbuilding research institute in Russia. Originally it only did work for the Soviet Navy. Now work is done at Krylov for all disciplines of ship science. The institute has seven divisions: 1. The Design Research Center. The center studies trends in development and conceptual designs for ships, and handles the preproposal stages of ship design. This division was originally responsible for all shipbuilding in the USSR. 2. Hydro- and Air Mechanics Division. This division is responsible for hydrodynamic and aerodynamic testing and design. 3. Strength, Vibration, and Structure Division. This division is responsible for design and test methodology for materials, fabrication techniques, and structures. 4. Acoustics Division. This division is responsible for minimizing noise emitted from ship systems. 5. Nonacoustic Ship Signatures Division. This division is responsible for minimizing electromagnetic noise from ship systems. 6. Marine Power Plants Division. This division is responsible for all aspects of power plant design and integration. 7. Nuclear Power Plant Division. This division is responsible for all aspects of marine nuclear power plants, including shielding, safety, and control. Krylov also has a large workshop and model-making capability that supports all of the divisions. Krylov has 5,000 employees, 2,500 of whom are employed in research. The institute has a very large facility that covers 80 hectares. The institute is considered very similar in facilities and in organization to the David Taylor Naval Research and Development Center's laboratories in the United States. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES Tow Tank Test Environment Krylov has a wide variety of test environments. There is a linear tow tank 1.4 km long, a circular tank, and a tank for testing simultaneous response to wind, waves, and current in a seafaring test tank. There is a high-speed test tank for testing hydrofoils and other high-speed designs. There is an ice model test tank to evaluate effectiveness of ice breaker designs, and a test environment for testing air/water interaction for ground effect aircraft, and so forth. There is also a propeller design test environment specializing in anticavitation, and air and water interactions such as in a hydrofoil design. The panel members were able to visit the structural test facility and the pressure test facility. Krylov can test and life-cycle full-size structural components. The institute has a laboratory with a reinforced floor, reinforced walls, and an overhead crane. Krylov has a large hydraulic power source which can drive up to 96 channels with up to a total of 15,000 tons of force or 40 to 600 tons/channel. The institute also has an automated computer control system and a 3,000 point data acquisition system. This facility has the capability of studying crack initiation and propagation using acoustic emissions. It also has the ability to control temperature of the material under test down to -110øC. The panel saw a large structural member that was being life-cycled for certification of the design by Lloyds of London. This facility is available to subcontract test services at $1,500 day and fabrication of test structures for about $0.50/lb. Pressure Test Facility Krylov has a large pressure test tank 1.8 m in diameter and 5.5 m deep, capable of testing up to 1,500 atmospheres, and of cycle testing at a rate of 15 cycles/hour. The panel also saw a larger pressure test tank 3.2 m in diameter and 9.5 m deep and capable of testing to 1,000 atmospheres. These facilities have the capability to test functional equipment such as motors, thrusters, and robotic arms at pressure. When testing pressure hulls, they can measure roundness, thickness, and weld integrity before and during the testing. The panel saw a 2.4 m diameter titanium sphere certified by the Russian Registry to 4,000 m, which would sell for $1 million. One of the functions of the institute is to do failure analysis of accidents and marine problems. This helps improve the institute's knowledge of design and testing for future designs. Krylov is responsible for testing and test methodology. The institute's scientists and engineers test for the shipbuilding industry, set design rules for deep water submersibles, and are currently evolving new rules for the design of icebreakers. They also specify the testing methodology for verification of new concepts in ship design. Krylov is starting a new area of research in the area of gas and oil production. The institute would like to use its knowledge of structures and testing in marine and land-based deep drilling and in pipeline systems. Two years ago Krylov designed and built a 6,000 m ROV called Uran. It was a tethered vehicle that had small vehicles on 100 m tethers operating from it. SUMMARY Krylov is the leading organization in Russia (and, in many areas, in the world) in the academic knowledge of ship building and of testing structural components. For many years, the institute oversaw all of the ship building activity in the former Soviet Union. Krylov is now expanding to include work in all disciplines of ship science. The institute's test facilities and design analysis capabilities are available to the world market at what Krylov believes is a very competitive price. The institute is also contributing to test standards and methodology. Krylov showed the panel very impressive facilities for structural testing, pressure, and temperature testing. The institute also has a wide range of tow tank facilities, including a 1,400 m long tow tank facility. These are effectively described in Krylov's brochure. Krylov is analogous to the David Taylor Naval Research and Development Center in Carderock, Maryland. REFERENCES Krylov Shipbuilding Research Institute. Brochure. 1990. Proceedings of the Last International Ship Structure Congress. Includes two papers on Krylov and its capabilities. The Marine Engineering Review recently published an article on Krylov. "Russian Shipbuilding Standards." Includes descriptions of Krylov's testing methods. "International Towing Tank Listing of Facilities." Site: RRC Kurchatov Institute Kurchatov Square, 46 Moscow 123182 Russia Date Visited: May 19, 1993 Report Author: D. Walsh ATTENDEES WTEC: B. Mooney D. Walsh HOSTS: Dr. George Alekseievitch Gladkov Chief of Department Dr. John Iakubovitch Nafikov Chief of Experimental Installation Dr. Eugene Petrovitch Kaplar Scientific Advisor of Project "Helena" Dr. Viatcheslav Petrovitch Kuznetsov Chief of Laboratory, Executive Secretary of ROSSHELF Company BACKGROUND The Kurchatov Institute, located in Moscow, is one of two Russian institutes that design, construct, and operate nuclear power reactors. There are seven reactors currently operating at this site. The institute employs about 10,000 people on a campus-like area consisting of 153 buildings. The WTEC team was at the institute for about three hours. One of the hosts, Dr. George Gladkov, is a recipient of the Order of Lenin, the USSR's highest personal award. The award, which designates him "A Hero of the Soviet Union," was presented to him for his efforts in designing the icebreaker Lenin. The hosts proposed that two topics be addressed during the visit: o Deep submergence development on the continental shelf o Thermoelectric installations for undersea energy In addition, the panel hoped to get more information about the reactors Kurchatov was developing (or proposed to develop) for the submarines/submersible concepts proposed by the Lazurit Central Design Bureau. However, only thermoelectric power sources were discussed during the visit. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES Kurchatov's scientists and engineers had developed one small thermoelectric power source and had completed the preliminary design for a larger unit. The general specifications for these units follow. Gamma 6 kWe Power Source Development of the Gamma 6 kWe power source began in 1970, and the unit became operational in 1982. The reactor was constructed by Izot in St. Petersburg. Although the design is rated for unattended operations at 6,000 m depth for ten years, this prototype unit has been operating at the institute in a test cell (see Figure Kurch.1). At full power, the life expectancy of the Gamma 6 kWe power source is about ten years. Consequently, this unit will probably be retired in the next two to three years. This thermoelectric power source produces 6 kWe of electricity and 200 W of heat energy. It has no moving parts, is self-regulating, and uses natural circulation. There are 24 thermionic (heat to electricity conversion) elements in this unit. The radioactive source is UO(2), with less than 20 percent enrichment (and thus is not weapons grade material). The primary construction material is titanium. There is no problem with operations at depths greater than 6,000 m if ambient seawater circulation is used for cooling (rather than the present internal freshwater cooling loop). Gamma will fit into a cylindrical space of 2.5 m diameter and 6 m height. The weight would be 10 to 12 tons. Helena 100 kWe Power Source This is a proposed power source; none has been built to date. It works on the same principles and basic design as Gamma, but has 300 electrical generating elements. It also has the same 6,000 m depth rating. The price would be from $6 to 8 million per unit (see Figure Kurch.2). In addition to the 100 kWe electrical power output, the unit also produces 3,000 kW of thermal energy. For on-land applications, Helena would be made of stainless steel. Its weight would be 200 tons (100 tons of which is cooling water) and it would require a space 4.5 m in diameter and 12 m high. Use of more expensive titanium would reduce the structural weight by about 40 percent (4.5 grams/cm(3)). BAC is used as the moderator. The temperatures are as follows: Phase I about 320øC, Phase II about 100øC, and Phase III about 90øC. However, with stainless steel, there is no single component heavier than 20 tons. Thus the unit could be taken to remote sites by a heavy lift helicopter. The Kurchatov Institute staff has estimated that this type of unit could support a Russian settlement (village) of 1,050 people, and that there are 15,000 settlements in the country that could use them. These power sources would be particularly useful in colder areas. The design life of Helena is 25 years. It is estimated that Helena could provide energy for a desalinization plant with a capacity of 60 tons per hour. Several operating Helenas at various geographic locations could be monitored at one central monitoring location by having each individual site transmit monitoring data to the central monitor via satellite. Should trouble arise, the central station could shut down any individual reactor. Disposal of Units at End of Life Team members were told that the decay of radiation from high to safe levels would take 1.5 years for titanium and 10 years for stainless steel. Therefore, the preferred disposal method would require leaving the unit in place for this period of time before recovery and scrapping would take place. SUMMARY Clearly these units, and their relatively low power levels, are too large in size and weight for use in submarines or submersibles. The team did ask about Kurchatov's development of reactors for the Lazurit Central Design Bureau (as was suggested to us by Lazurit), but the Kurchatov representatives were not aware of these developments. They did state that Mr. Stanislav Lavkovsky, Chief Designer of Lazurit, was a frequent visitor to Kurchatov, and that he was there the day of the team's visit. Apparently the submarine/submersible reactor work is done by another group at the institute. Although Dr. Viatcheslav Petrovitch Kuznetsov was present as the Executive Secretary of the Russian Shelf-Developing (ROSSHELF) Company, there were no discussions of this project during this site visit. Since this project will use several small reactors, both fixed and in a submarine, the WTEC panel members thought it unusual that Dr. Kuznetsov did not offer to answer questions regarding cooperation between Lazurit and Kurchatov. Figure Kurch.1. Gamma - Graphic File ***.GIF Figure Kurch.2. Helena - Graphic File ***.GIF Site: Lazurit Central Design Bureau 57, Svobody St. Nizhny Novgorod 603040 Russia Telephone:831/2-25-84-00 Telex: 151118 MORE SU Fax: 831/2-25-13-29 Date Visited: May 18, 1993 Report Author: D. Walsh ATTENDEES WTEC: B. Mooney D. Walsh HOSTS: Nikolai I. Kvasha Designer General; Dir., Central Design Bur. Stanislav A. Lavkovsky Deputy Director and Designer General for Offshore Technologies BACKGROUND The WTEC team for this visit was accompanied by Oleg V. Lozinsky, the Executive Secretary of the International Integration Association (IIA), who acted as facilitator and translator. The team began by meeting with the top technical and management staff of Lazurit; there were nine professionals and a translator, as well as a person from the bureau's business office present. The conference room had been set up with displays of Lazurit's capabilities and interests in commercial submarines and deep submersible vehicles. There were eleven models of different submersibles on the table, and diagrams and drawings for another six to eight arrayed along the walls. The Lazurit Central Design Bureau (CDB) is one of three design bureaus in the former Soviet Union that designed military submarines. The other two are Malachite and Rubin, both in St. Petersburg. Lazurit's work had begun in the 1950s with modern postwar diesel-electric submarines. The bureau's most recent work has been the titanium hull Sierra class nuclear attack submarine. While walking from the parking lot to the headquarters building, Mr. Lavkovsky pointed out the incomplete pressure hulls of two Sierra class submarines that were outside the building hall at an adjacent shipyard. He said that they would not be completed and that the hulls would be dismantled. The briefing began with remarks by the CDB Director, Mr. Nikolai Kvasha. First, he made it very clear that a four-hour visit to Lazurit was simply not enough time to cover all of the topics listed in the WTEC list of questions. Such an inquiry would require at least a week. Since he felt that the team would receive only a very superficial briefing in the time available, the WTEC questions were not addressed directly during this meeting. Because government (i.e., Navy) funding has been cut significantly, Lazurit is now busy trying to commercialize its capabilities. But the process is slow and some reductions of personnel have taken place; additional reductions are anticipated. Director Kvasha also said that the bureau has been receiving a lot of foreign visitors, but almost none of these visits have resulted in new business for Lazurit. Next Director Kvasha reviewed current activities at the bureau. Some of the new directions are: o ROSSHELF seafloor-based oil and gas production system for ice-covered oceans. o Diving support ship. o Fishing vessel (there was a model of this on display). o Ocean drilling ship for scientific research. o Truck-mounted, portable hyperbaric medical system (there was a model on display). o A variety of manned submersible designs, ranging from a 130,000 ton nuclear- powered submarine container ship to a one-person recreational submersible. Director Kvasha said there were 30 manned submersibles operating in Russian waters and that Lazurit had designed 24 of them. Of the approximately 20 submarines/submersibles shown in the conference room, only one seemed familiar. This was the submarine rescue vehicle, which is similar to the U.S. Navy's DSRVs. After a four-hour briefing in the conference room, the team had dinner at Lazurit with the director and several members of his staff. The team did not visit any other facilities at this site. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES ROSSHELF The Russian Shelf-Developing Company proposes to build a complete oil and gas production complex on the seafloor beneath an ice covered ocean in the Arctic. The organization was incorporated as a joint stock company in May 1992. Nineteen different Russian institutes and agencies are partners in the venture. They include the following: o Lazurit Central Design Bureau o Krylov Research Center (St. Petersburg) o Gasprom (state gas concern) o SEVMASHPREDPRIJATIE (production association in Severodvinsk, Archangel Region) o Kurchatov Institute (Russian nuclear power research) o VNIPMORNEFTGAS Institute (offshore oil and gas engineering development) o Others The government has given the rights to the Stockman Field (expected to have primarily gas and gas condensate products) in the Barents Sea to ROSSHELF. The chairman of the ROSSHELF group is Academician E.P. Velikhov, Vice President of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Director of the Kurchatov Institute (nuclear reactors). The Russian group is actively seeking foreign partners to provide investment capital and some technology transfer. The complex will be built at a depth of 100 to 350 m and will be powered by a nuclear reactor on the seafloor. A nuclear submarine will be constructed for crew transfers and servicing the modules. Several manned submersibles and ROVs will be built to assist with seafloor operations and rescue in case of emergencies. There also has been some discussion about building a nuclear powered tanker for transport. Lazurit's role will be to design the seafloor modules, as well as the submarines and submersibles, needed to support the complex. Major issues now include the development of optimal engineering solutions to ensure safety and reliability for such underwater complexes and the laying of pipelines to transport the produced gas. It was mentioned that the missile section of a Typhoon class SSBN could be adapted for some of the seafloor modules in the complex. Clearly, this is a very complex project representing the convergence of several different undersea technologies. Nothing like this has ever been done. For testing purposes, ROSSHELF plans early creation of an "experimental-and- industrial" (pilot) complex rated at 10% of the planned capacity of the field, to include U.S. and other international participation. Once funding has been secured, it is estimated that full development of the first industrial seafloor complex will take 10 to 12 years and approximately $18 to 19 billion. The pilot complex could be completed in 7 or 8 years at a cost of about $2 billion. Both of these time and cost figures may be optimistic. Ocean Shuttle The Ocean Shuttle is proposed as a built-for-the-purpose, nuclear-powered oceanographic research submarine. It is to be a 1,300 ton, 600 m capable submarine, carrying a crew of twelve plus eight to twelve scientific staff persons for a maximum mission time of sixty days. One of the models on the conference table was of this submarine. This originally was a joint USSR-Canadian program. Lazurit planned to design the hull and major operating systems, which would be built in the Soviet Union, and the Canadians would supply the nuclear reactor. Unfortunately, the breakup of the USSR resulted in this program being postponed indefinitely by the Canadians. However, in the United States (in the Office of Naval Research and at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute) there has been some interest in getting a retired Soviet nuclear submarine and converting it for horizontal oceanography. The Lazurit Design Bureau believes that a newly built vessel would be cheaper and more efficient. The estimated cost for the Ocean Shuttle would be $100 to 160 million if the Canadian reactor were used and $60 million if a Russian reactor were substituted. When asked about the latter, the team was told to obtain this information from the Kurchatov Institute. The team was shown a brief video tape that showed some artists' sketches of the Ocean Shuttle. Of interest was their showing as one of the key program documents an American study on the marine science rationale for this submarine. As the narrator said, it was done by Don Walsh, a member of this WTEC site visit team. He did this work about three years ago for ECS Group, the Canadian company that did the nuclear reactor development. Although it appears that this proposed project is still in the conceptual stages, it has a lot of powerful friends in the Russian oceanographic community. However, the funding for a project as large as this must come from the West. Submerging Ship Platform The submerging ship platform was developed to find a way for submersibles to work under ice or in areas of heavy seas, and to be safely launched and recovered at each end of the mission. It is designed to be a launch and recovery system that would permit manned submersibles to fly off the deck of the ship while submerged. There is operational experience available in this technique. The Russian Navy has conducted submerged launch and recovery of its submarine rescue submersibles from the deck of specially configured India class submarines, also designed by Lazurit. The submerging ship would be able to conduct these operations down to 150 m, or it could do this while anchored submerged. It would be able to carry two manned submersibles roughly the size of the Russian Navy DSRVs. Tourist Submarines Of eleven submersible models on the conference table, six were tourist submarine concepts. The designs ranged from conservative, large (forty to fifty passengers) submarines to a small one-person vehicle. One design was a trimaran cruising yacht with speed of up to 25 kts featuring a side-by-side dual hull configuration, with the third (central) hull being a small submarine capable of detaching and sailing autonomously. Other concepts are self-propelled by diesel-electric power plants. Of particular interest were two that have transparent hulls. Tourist submarines in the West have used cast and machined massive acrylic pieces for transparent hulls. Lazurit plans to use glass for its hulls. Massive glass has not been used successfully in manned submersibles; its properties are simply too uncertain. Lazurit representatives say that they will use a composite organic and silicon glass. This type of glass, developed by the Krylov Institute, has been successfully used in military helicopters. Lazurit has developed the engineering design of its first all- glass submarine. With a capacity of forty-eight passengers and diesel-electric propulsion, the submarine would require about two years to build once an order is received. Only one Russian-built tourist submarine is in service. This was designed by Rubin Central Design Bureau; the submarine began operations in 1993 at Antigua in the Caribbean. While the tourist submarine industry has done fairly well in the West, the bureau needs to be careful with its market analysis. The market for large tourist submarines (forty to fifty or more passengers) is mature, and probably no more than ten remain to be sold in the world. Lazurit should concentrate on the smaller (six to twenty passengers) tourist submarines where there is still considerable sales opportunity. Submersible Rescue Vehicles Lazurit designed the Poseidon class DSRVs now in use by the Russian Navy. Four operational and one experimental models were built. The DSRVs operate in pairs, generally carried onboard an India class submarine. They are capable of launch and recovery while the submarine is submerged. The team was shown a video of a simulated rescue mission. The team was told that normal navy procedure is for the crew of a downed submarine to escape by locking out at depths down to 120 m. Beyond this depth, to a maximum of 500 m, the DSRVs are used. The current vehicles can carry twenty- four passengers and a crew of three. One of the design models in the conference room was an advanced version of the DSRV, none of which has been built. It probably has a greater depth capability and more passenger capacity than the current models. In addition to the naval rescue submersibles, the team was shown a design and model of a rescue vehicle to be used for emergency removal of people from offshore oil platforms or from seafloor complexes such as those envisioned in the ROSSHELF project. The submersible lifeboat would be based onboard the platform and transfer operations would be conducted submerged. This requires that the underwater structures be fitted with passageways for emergency exits and hatches compatible with the submersibles. The proposed rescue submersible would have a forty-two person capacity and twelve hours submerged endurance. Air Independent Propulsion Lazurit designed a conversion of a diesel-electric submarine (probably a Whisky class) to be powered by an H(2)-O(2) fuel cell. The liquefied gases were carried topside in four large cylindrical tanks, two forward and two aft. Some weight compensation was achieved by removing most of the submarine's storage batteries. Lazurit said that submerged endurance was increased five to ten times with this propulsion system. The panel saw a video of this submarine in operation. The most recent operation of this experimental submarine was in 1991. Other Submersibles Because the visit was brief, panel members did not have an opportunity to discuss all the submarine/submersible designs, concepts, and models that were in the conference room. Some of the others that were briefly mentioned were: ROSSHELF Mother Submarine. As noted above, this would be a nuclear-powered submarine designed to support the seafloor operations of the ROSSHELF complex. From its general size and mission requirements, it appears that the submarine design would have much in common with Ocean Shuttle. 9,000 M Depth Submersible. The panel saw a model of this submersible on the conference table but was not briefed on it due to lack of time. It was generally known that the Soviet Union, through its P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, was planning to develop a submersible to go to the oceans' deepest depths (about 11,000 m). This model may have represented that design concept. Cargo Submarine This concept proposes a 130,000-ton nuclear submarine container ship with a capacity of 1,000 20-ft containers. The vessel's length would be 250 m, its beam 33 m, and its draft 11 m. The maximum operating depth would be 200 m. A transpolar voyage from Japan to Europe would reportedly take about ten days compared to twenty-five days by conventional surface ship routing. While land bridge service by the Trans-Siberian Railway would be about eight days, the railroad was described as "not fully satisfactory for this service." SUMMARY Clearly Lazurit has been involved in a wide variety of submarine/submersible programs, and the bureau is very well qualified to undertake any of the projects proposed. Lazurit is able to invoke a wide spectrum of military-developed technologies that are coming to the commercial market for the first time. The question is whether the bureau can develop sustaining programs to avoid damaging reductions in personnel. A major difficulty in making this conversion from military to civil work is being able to effectively market the bureau's capabilities. The visiting WTEC team agrees with Director Kvasha that four hours was simply insufficient to get into the technical details of the wide variety of deep submersibles and commercial submarines designed/proposed by Lazurit. The scope of projects underway, or proposed, by the bureau was very impressive and educational. However, at best, the visit was only a reconnaissance. Knowledge of technical details would require several more days' work at this site. The director extended an invitation for a more extensive visit. At the conclusion of the meeting the team requested brochures or papers on the various underwater systems that had been shown. The team was informed that much was not on hand at this time. Some brochures were provided with the promise that a full package would be sent to the team in Moscow before the end of the week. However, this package did not arrive before the WTEC team left Russia. REFERENCES Lazurit Central Design Bureau. Product description brochure. Published materials on ROSSHELF. Brochures for two designs of tourist submarines. Brochure for the underwater container ship. Site: Malachite St. Petersburg Marine Engineering Bureau ul. Frunze, 18 St. Petersburg 196135 Russia Date Visited: May 18, 1993 Report Author: M. Lee ATTENDEES WTEC: N. Caplan A. Kalvaitis M. Lee HOSTS: Anatoly V. Kuteinikov General Designer and Director Vladimir I. Barantsev Chief Designer Vitaliy A. Ostapenko Chief Engineer BACKGROUND Malachite is reputedly one of the leading firms in Russian underwater shipbuilding. Malachite's scientists and engineers built the first Soviet nuclear submarine, the Leninsky Komsomol. This was a classified operation until recently. The firm is now participating in the defense conversion program and is interested in making its capabilities available to the world market. A systems design house that partners with other organizations that develop subsystems (acoustics and electronics design subsystems, for example), Malachite has experience in the design and fabrication of several different types of submarines, submersibles, and underwater work mechanisms. At a conference held in Birmingham, England, in May, Russian military technology conversion was displayed for Western buyers. Malachite was unable to show the WTEC team some of the firm's hardware because it was at this conference. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES Submersibles for Aid of Fishermen Malachite has designed and built a towed submersible, Thetis-H (sometimes translated from the Cyrillic as Thetis-N), which is used to assist in improving the effectiveness of fishing trawlers. The vehicle, which is towed behind the net, is steerable up and down and left and right. The man inside of the vehicle can assess the effectiveness of the fishing process and can relay instructions to the surface to steer the net. It is also used to observe fish type and behavior, and to correlate this data to acoustic signatures as heard from the ship. Man in the Sea Project The objective of the man in the sea project is to learn how to allow man to operate down to 500 m while using only a light diving suit. Malachite has a test chamber that is outfitted with video cameras, which allow experimentation with animals to develop mixed gases and decompression techniques. As a result of this program, Malachite's scientists and engineers have been able to send divers to 500 m depth. They have built and operated an underwater habitat that operates to 300 m depth and can hold up to twelve scientists. 6,000 M Submersible Rus A new 6,000 m submersible Rus is being built by Malachite using a welded titanium sphere, silver zinc batteries, and Russian-manufactured light-weight syntactic foam. The firm estimates that this vehicle could be reproduced for approximately $12 million. Malachite feels that it brings an expertise in welding thick titanium, an important asset, to the submersible community. The Rus is being built for the Ministry of Geology. This vehicle is being delayed by funding problems. Test Tank Capabilities Malachite has test tank capabilities to test a 2.2 m diameter down to 6 km depth and 2.9 m diameter down to 4 km depth. Submersible Mounted Drill Malachite has a submersible mounted drill that can drill and recover the core from a 50 mm x 3 m hole. Submersible Oil Tanker Malachite proposes to design a submersible oil tanker that could carry oil from northern Canada to Japan or Korea via the polar under-ice route. This vessel would be nuclear powered with diesel power as auxiliary for use near populated areas. Tourist Vehicles Malachite is interested in designing underwater tourist vehicles of various types. Underwater Vehicles for Sunken Log Recovery Malachite has designed and fabricated underwater vehicles for the recovery of sunken logs. These vehicles are lowered to the bottom. They have a manipulator that picks up the logs from the bottom. Some of them have a manipulator and a saw to cut standing lumber, then retrieve it. The vehicles use force feedback on the manipulator through a joystick operator interface. North 2 The North 2, a 2,000 m manned submarine, was designed at Malachite. SUMMARY Malachite is a large scale systems designer and integrator with a lot of expertise in submarine, submersible, and underwater work systems design and fabrication. The firm has ties into a network of other organizations that can participate in marine system design and fabrication. The firm's scientists and engineers are not working on ROVs or AUVs because they see no demand. Until recently, all of Malachite's contact with the outside community for technology has been through a company named Sudoexport. This work is now handled by Defense Export. Computer-assisted design (CAD) is Malachite's most needed and requested technology. Malachite's scientists currently use personal computers for computing. REFERENCES Market literature that describes the specifications for each of the projects included in this report is available from Malachite. Projects included are: Rus (autonomous manned submersible) Thetis-H (underwater towed manned observation vehicle) Conself (underwater autonomous manned observation vehicle) Argo-1 (underwater excursion complex) Argo-2/4 (underwater excursion complex) Argo-3 (underwater excursion complex) Triton (manned submersible) Sadko (underwater passenger complex) Investigator (diesel-electric submarine) Pyranja (small diesel-electric submarine) Underwater tanker Underwater transport container carrier Aquarium (underwater leisure center) White Nights (St. Petersburg international music center on the water -- Frigate and Archipelago variants) Hyperbaric oxygen complex Meduza-1 (complex for underwater works) Akvia (complex for surface and underwater tours) Underwater yacht Hudson, Richard L. "Russia Is Displaying Defense Equipment at Show in England." Wall Street Journal, May 24, 1993:1. Site: Oceanpribor Research and Production Company Chkalovsky Pr. 46 St. Petersburg 197376 Russia Date Visited: May 20, 1993 Report Author: A. Kalvaitis ATTENDEES WTEC: A. Kalvaitis N. Caplan M. Lee HOSTS: Juri Koriakin Engineering Dir., Doctor of Science in Physics and Mathematics Stanislav A. Smirnov R&D Director, Doctor of Science in Physics and Mathematics Arkady A. Soloviev Head of Foreign Relations Department BACKGROUND Oceanpribor combines a research center and two manufacturing plants. It was originally formed 60 years ago as a government controlled enterprise. The primary function was to design and fabricate acoustic systems for Navy ships and submersibles. A company was formed in 1973 to market these devices under the trademark KORVET. Oceanpribor considers itself the leading organization in Russia specializing in acoustics, and participates in fundamental and applied research. There are presently a total of 4,000 employees, including 2,000 scientists and engineers working in the Oceanpribor Research Center. Oceanpribor also designs and produces consumer products, including commercial acoustic systems, amplifiers, and record players. Under the defense conversion program now underway, other equipment developed here includes underwater stationary systems for environmental tracking and surveillance; hydroacoustic equipment for research vessels; multi-purpose sonar and positioning systems for manned and unmanned underwater vehicles; resources and equipment for ship-born prospecting and development; and systems and devices designed to address the problems of marine engineering and geology in continental shelf development, as well as for hydrographic and oceanological research. Oceanpribor's numerous facilities include a large acoustically isolated tank for conducting in-water acoustic tests and measurements. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES In Russia, all projects involving hydroacoustics, or sound transmission in water, are conducted at this center, and the specialists are at this location. They cooperate with 100 other institutions and subcontract work to these groups. Basically, Oceanpribor Research Center is responsible for the design, development, and prototyping of hydroacoustic devices, while production is conducted at other Oceanpribor facilities and outside locations. In the United States there are many companies in this specialty area. The WTEC team was given a tour of some of Oceanpribor's facilities, which included a museum, a display of underwater acoustics equipment and devices, the large test basin complex, and a demonstration of commercial sound ("HiFi") equipment. The museum depicted a history of hydrophones and the underwater acoustic devices dating to 1933. Displayed were models of large passive sonars installed on their submarines. Also shown was a series of bottom mounted hydrophones that are activated by ship's noise, and a model of a large, rectangular-shaped hydrophone array for long range tracking. The team was also shown an extensive exhibit of miscellaneous equipment that had been utilized for a defense conversion conference held earlier in the week and attended by representatives from former Soviet and eastern European countries. Side scan transducers, responders, towed arrays, and expendable sound velocimeters, sound reflectors, and other miscellaneous underwater sound-related devices were displayed. Some of the performance specifications were in English and displayed on posters. For example, the specifications stated compressed video transmission capability at 2 to 15 lines/sec, as well as data transmission capability at 2,000 ñ500 bits/sec at ranges of 5 to 15 km. Next the team was shown the large acoustic test basin complex that is used for measurement and testing of arrays, components, and transducers. Specifications are as follows: dimensions of reservoir 50 x 14 x 10 m; frequency range 0.2 to 600 kHz; absorption factor 0.94; acoustic noise level of not more than 0.05 Pa in one-third octave bands of operating range; and accuracy of reading is 10 mm using linear coordinate devices and 6 minutes using angular coordinate devices. Oceanpribor has expertise in a broad spectrum of underwater acoustic technologies, equipment, and devices. The research center initiated research on side scan sonar in the early 1960s. The panel was shown a 1964 side scan image of a ship. Presently, work is underway for computer enhancement of the images. Oceanpribor has developed transducers with very uniform directivity patterns and little distortion. By using complex reflector systems, the side scan antennae exhibit no side lobes and can be packaged in small volumes. Side scan capability can be applied to towed, remote (both ROV and AUV), and manned vehicles. A 255 kHz multibeam Doppler velocity log has been developed that can measure ship velocities in deep water (down to 6,000 m) accurately by bottom tracking instead of tracking on water mass. It is unclear how this capability compares to Western systems (e.g., acoustic Doppler current profilers that can measure current velocities at various depths simultaneously). In the area of tracking and positioning systems, the center has developed long, short, and ultrashort baseline systems. Oceanpribor's positioning systems work at depths from 50 to 6,000 m at ranges up to 12 km; they are similar to those of Honeywell. Some of these have accuracies of 0.3 m, utilize different frequencies, and can change codes. These can operate several days to years in duration. Their systems are compatible with SIMRAD and other equipment. We discussed teleoperation, data transmission over large distances, and telemetry capabilities. There is no problem with large amounts of data telemetry over short distances; however, at ranges of 100 to 400 km, the sound channel is used. Oceanpribor is developing algorithms that will work in the multipath environment; this is a major undertaking that may require cooperation with specialists from many countries. Oceanpribor recognizes the limitations of its computers; to compensate, the center's algorithms are required to be very efficient. Its software designers must understand the physics of the system and implement the real-time software. Looking into the future, Oceanpribor envisions geology and oil and gas exploration as areas of interest. The firm also anticipates that considerable support of the Russian Navy will continue because Ukraine presently has most of the ships with hydroacoustic capability; therefore this capability will have to be reestablished. (The panel was told that a similar group to Oceanpribor is being formed in Ukraine). Even though Oceanpribor's ocean acoustic technology was previously classified, it can participate in international projects if they are not defense related or if intergovernmental agreements are concluded. In summary, Oceanpribor claims it is the largest Russian company specializing in the design of underwater acoustic systems for world ocean resource exploration, deep hydrographic surveying, and oceanographic research. Oceanpribor would like to collaborate with foreign companies to design and manufacture new hydroacoustic systems, export existing products, conduct tests and calibrations in its unique test basin complex, and establish cooperative production activities and joint ventures. REFERENCES KORVET Oceanpribor Research and Production Company. Hydroacoustic Devices and Systems. Short brochure on capabilities. KORVET Oceanpribor. "Hydroacoustic Devices and Systems," KORVET 92. This packet includes performance specifications on approximately thirty underwater acoustic devices, hydrophones, ship positioning systems, and so forth. In English. Site: P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology Academy of Sciences of Russia 23 Krasikowa St. Moscow 117218 Russia Telephone:095-124-5996 Telex: 411968 OKEAN SU Fax: 095-124-5987 (or 5983) Date Visited: May 17, 1993 Report Author: D. Walsh ATTENDEES WTEC: L. Gentry B. Mooney R. Seymour D. Walsh HOSTS: L. Savostin Director V. Demchenko Vice Director Dr. A. Gorlov (meeting coordinator) (and about 12 other senior staff members) BACKGROUND The purpose of the meeting was to provide the WTEC team with a general familiarity with the P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, which is the primary oceanographic research institution in Russia. This took a little over an hour, with the director conducting most of the briefing. A more in-depth visit to Shirshov was made later in the week by a three-person WTEC team. Some of the information that is in the report below was repeated at that time. Dr. Tengiz Borisov briefed the team on the work of KOPRON, the government's Special Committee for Undersea Work, for which he serves as chairman. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES P.P. Shirshov Institute is part of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The institute employs 2,000 people at four locations: St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad (Baltic base), Ghelendzhik (Black Sea base), and Moscow (headquarters). The institute formerly had a branch in Vladivostok, and is planning to establish a new branch in Murmansk or Archangelsk. The Moscow headquarters is divided into four branches: biological, marine geology, hydrophysics (which includes acoustics and physical oceanography), and technical (instrumentation, submersibles, etc.). The institute's technology research and development activities are largely concerned with the production of platform and instrumentation systems needed to support its oceanographic research work. In the time of the Soviet Union it was often extremely difficult to get "standard stock." off-the-shelf oceanographic equipment, due to export restrictions by Western countries and other impediments posed by the Soviet bureaucracy. Thus the institute was forced to do its own design, development, and construction. While this activity was driven by necessity, it also helped to stimulate the development of some unique devices that may now be of interest to the West. At the time of the WTEC team's visit, much of Shirshov's operational programs and technology development work is shut down or greatly reduced due to severe budget limitations. As of the previous December (1992) all of its vessels were in storage; only minimal standby maintenance was being performed. An illustration of the institute's present difficulties is its newest class (1989) of research ships, which were designed to be super quiet for acoustics work. The two ships are Vaviloff and Ioffe. Already Ioffe has been leased to a German company for use as a passenger vessel. It is feared that Vaviloff may also have the same fate. The institute has ten research ships. Six are specially built for oceanographic science and two are capable of supporting manned submersibles. The institute has six operational submersibles: o 2 Mir class, 6,000 m depth capability (made in Finland) o 2 Pisces class, 2,000 m depth (made in Canada) o 1 Osmotr class, 300 m depth, with diver lockout to 200 m o 1 Argus class, 500 - 600 m depth Osmotr and Argus are at the Black Sea base in Ghelendzhik. The Mirs have been quite active until recent budget cutbacks. Osmotr is for sale. Argus primarily operates in the Black Sea. There are two new 4,000 m Rift class manned submersibles that are about 85 percent complete. Our hosts estimate that about $1.2 million is required to complete construction. These are of all-titanium construction and have been designed and built in Russia. The institute is actively seeking a Western source of funding to complete this project. Shirshov has indicated that it would offer one of the two Rifts to the investor as payback for the $2 million funding. However the news is not all bad. The director said that the institute now has two years work for the Akademik Kheldish and its two Mir submersibles. This will be a joint mapping expedition in the Kara Sea with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Some U.S. Office of Naval Research funding is involved in this international expedition. The director said that ONR and WHOI representatives would be at the institute the next week to discuss program details. It appears that this work may be connected with surveying the nuclear waste sites in this area (see WTEC site report on KOPRON briefing by Borisov). After the Kara Sea work, there will be another expedition to the Laptev Sea in cooperation with the German Oceanographic Research Institute at Kiel. SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION The director (L. Savostin) is optimistic that he can find funding to keep the majority of the institute's programs and facilities going. He told us that he had met with both the Prime Minister and the President, and was assured that support funding would be available. In subsequent correspondence with the panel, Mr. Savostin noted that the institute is active in developing new robotics technology for a global ocean observing system and for long-term underwater ecological monitoring, and welcomes international partnerships in these fields. Site: P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology Academy of Sciences of Russia 23 Krasikowa St., Moscow 117218 Russia Telephone:095-124-5996 Fax: 095-124-5987 Date Visited: May 20, 1993 Report Author: D. Walsh ATTENDEES WTEC: C. Brancart B. Mooney D. Walsh HOSTS: L. Savostin Director V. Demchenko Vice Director Dr. Vyacheslav S. Yastrebov President, Near-Bottom Research Institute Head, Department of Underwater Vehicles (former Director of P.P. Shirshov Institute) Dr. Lev L. Utiakov Laboratory Chief, Long-Term Bottom Stations, Sensors, and Electronics [Vice Director for Technology as of 12/93] Dr. A.N. Paramonov Underwater Robotics and Instrumentation Development Dr. Alexander B. Kostin Principal Scientist, Deep Tow Systems, Side- Scan Sonars, Signal Processing, and Transducer Developments Yuri S. Russak Principal Scientist, Signal Processing, Side- Scan Sonars, and Transducer Developments Dr. Alexandre B. Zaretsky Senior Research Scientist, Design of AUV Systems and Control Program Software Development Dr. Lev Merklin Senior Scientist, Geophysics Signal Processing, High Resolution Array Design, and Signal Processing Dr. Alexandr A. Gorlov Principal Scientist, Deep Submersibles Engineering, Pisces Pilot (mtg. coordinator) BACKGROUND After an initial briefing period in the auditorium, the team spent about four hours at the institute. Most of the time was used to visit various offices and laboratories to view, demonstrate, and discuss equipment. This site visit was very well organized. Upon arrival the team was taken to a conference room where each staff member to be visited gave a briefing on his research work and recent developments. This took less than an hour and was very useful in giving an overview of activities related to team member's interests. There were four briefers whose laboratories or bureaus the team did not visit this morning: o Mr. Victor Brovko, who was with the institute from 1965 to 1975, when he was responsible for the design and construction of seafloor habitats for divers (e.g., Chernamor), AUVs (in Academician Vyacheslav Yastrebov's laboratory) and manned submersibles (e.g., Argus). Since 1970, Mr. Brovko has been with the Experimental Design Bureau of Oceanological Engineering, which was then part of the Shirshov Institute. He is presently Science and Technology Director of the bureau, which is now independent. The team visited his bureau later this day. o Mr. Eugene Pavljutchenko is the Chief Engineer of the Experimental Design Bureau. He has worked on the submersibles Argus (1975), Osmotr (1985), and Rift (two are currently under construction). o Mr. Sergei Surkachin works in diving, diving methods, and underwater habitats. He is doing a joint project with the University of Maryland for scientific diving operations in the Black Sea, in Lake Baikal, and in the Chesapeake Bay (in the United States). He said that the Russian State Committee on Science and Technology and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have an agreement for scientific diving cooperation. His group hopes to get a mission in NOAA's seafloor habitat Aquarius. o Vladimir Kuzin is chief pilot of the 2,000 m Pisces (there are two of them) submersibles. He said that they have successfully tested a hydrazine energy source to depths of 5,000 m. (This is probably the system that is now being offered commercially by Rauma Repola in Finland). During the conversation, our hosts mentioned possible work underway elsewhere in Russia on materials such as acrylics and glass for manned submersible pressure hulls. With respect to the general state of the P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, please see the preceding report, which describes the team's first visit there on May 17, 1993. At the time the team was briefed by the director, however, he was unable to join us for this site visit. As with most of the site visits, there was far more information available than there was time to evaluate it in any detail. This was especially true at Shirshov, where there was a genuine eagerness to tell the team about projects, hardware developments, and ideas for new research directions. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES This section is organized in the order of the offices and laboratories visited. Department of Underwater Vehicles and the Near-Bottom Research Institute Academician Yastrebov met the team in his office to provide a more detailed briefing on his work. He mentioned that he had been at the Shirshov for twenty-five years, but in the past two years the institute had received no new funding. So the institute is working on accumulated hydroacoustics data instead of making additional oceanographic voyages at sea. With a private company, the Near-Bottom Research Institute is developing "intelligent robots," that is, autonomous underwater vehicles. The applications of these submersibles will be for biological monitoring and measurements of the general oceanographic environment. An important first step is programming the vehicle. One approach is to provide the AUV's onboard memory with "genetic information" about the general/generic nature of the mission. As with other AUVs, the specific mission information will also be programmed. In this way, a sort of pseudo-artificial intelligence is provided to the submersible. Also the actual "experience" of the vehicle will be collected from each mission and programmed back into it to increase its "learning curve" and collective intelligence. The institute's scientists and engineers are presently doing laboratory modeling and simulation to test these ideas. The team was taken to the laboratory and shown several test runs on a computer screen. They have developed nine training programs of varying complexity. The simulated AUV is fitted with forward-looking and vertical sonars for terrain/obstacle avoidance and maintaining the programmed altitude above the seafloor. In practice they will be able to maintain navigation accuracy to within 7 m at the seafloor. The team was also shown two geological sampling devices that had been constructed for use onboard the Mir (6,000 m) manned submersibles. These hydraulically operated units are a rock coring device and a rock breaker. The coring device has successfully drilled 25 cm cores in basalt from a Mir operating near the Azores. Mr. Yastrebov also mentioned a 6,000 m towed sled developed by Shirshov that carries side scan sonar as well as TV and a still camera. He indicated that the team would see more details on this system during visits to the other laboratories and offices. Sonar Information Processing In addition to the data processing of signals, Mr. Yuri Russak's group is involved with development of the transducer elements for the side scan sonar and the imaging systems for the 6,000 m towed fish (with a 10,000 m umbilical). The onboard low light level, black and white TV camera has a threshold of 0.005 lux using a supervidicon tube. With the lighting available on the fish, the maximum visible range is about 20 m. The institute does not have color TV since the line loss (over 10 km umbilical length) would be too great. The photography is done with a two-camera, color stereo, 35 mm system. The film magazines hold 3,000 exposures/frames. A strobe flash provides lighting for the cameras. This fish was used to investigate the wreckage of the Mike class submarine Komsomolets, which is lying on its side in 1,400 m of water. A photograph of the fish is enclosed with this report (see Figure Shirshov.1). Sensors and Devices for Long-Term Bottom Stations Dr. Lev Utykov showed a variety of electronic devices developed and made by his group. Of particular interest is a family of electronic chips that can be used at ambient pressure to great depths. These chips have also been successfully tested by boiling in oil and freezing with liquid nitrogen. He believes that ambient-pressure electronics (either exposed to direct depth pressure or in pressure-compensated containers) will be the way to put much greater computer capacity into vehicles with minimal weight penalties. Another equipment development that Dr. Utykov's group has worked on is a hydroacoustic transponder/beacon system for attaching to divers and marine mammals. In both cases it could send physiological and location data back to the control facility. It could also be used to warn a diver about unsafe conditions (exceeding dive time at depth, onset of nitrogen narcosis, etc.). Presumably a marine mammal that has had conditioning training could be controlled via long distance acoustic transmissions. Figure Shirshov.1. Photograph of Fish - Graphic File ***.GIF Geophysical Towed Arrays Mr. Lev Merklin discussed his development of lower-cost, smaller geophysical seismic systems. Since the existing 3-D systems are large and expensive, his goal is to achieve similar results with much less complexity. He hopes to develop a 5 km long towed array using sensors that are only 20 to 25 mm in diameter. A microjet transmitter would transmit a broad-band, complex signal. However, cable self-noise is a problem when the operator uses a very thin cable with built-in multichannel hydrophones. SUMMARY Since the WTEC team's visit to the institute was really a series of visits to several offices and laboratories, this summary is a synthesis of these activities. There was no single summary meeting before the team left. The entire institute suffers from a greatly reduced level of investment from the government agencies that had been the principal source of support. This is forcing the various components of Shirshov to review what they know how to do, what they can make, and what can be sold outside Russia. In addition, a vigorous effort to seek cooperative research programs with foreign scientific agencies and institutions is evident. Since the P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology is well known and respected throughout the world, this path of cooperative arrangements may be the most promising direction in the near term. The team saw quite a few innovative technology developments during this brief visit. With a proper marketing approach, there could be success along this path. The director of the institute seems to be aware of these opportunities and plans to develop an organized catalog of their capabilities to be used as a marketing tool. Hopefully, professionals selected from the institute will be able to attend some of the major ocean trade shows in the world to make the larger community aware of what is available from this source. Unfortunately, economic conditions in Russia may get worse faster than such organizations are able to develop means of self support. Considerable institutional downsizing will be an almost certainty. Hopefully this can be done without significant loss of the intellectual and physical assets that have made this a major oceanographic institution in the world. REFERENCES Rock Coring Device That Can be Mounted on Submersibles. Brochure. Underwater Hydraulic Breaking Device That Can be Mounted on Submersibles. Brochure. 6,000 m depth towed sled for ocean floor. Photograph. Site: Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering (RUBIN) Ulista Marata 90 St. Petersburg 191126 Russia Date Visited: May 19, 1993 Report Author: A. Kalvaitis ATTENDEES WTEC: N. Caplan A. Kalvaitis M. Lee HOSTS: Dr. Alexander Zavalishin First Deputy Head, Chief Engineer Nickolay A. Nossov Deputy Chief Designer BACKGROUND The Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering (RUBIN) specializes in submarines and other underwater technologies. Several years ago, RUBIN was a secret institute that could not be mentioned openly. The Typhoon, Oscar, and Komsomolets submarines were designed here. Because of recent conversion efforts, approximately 40 percent of the work is presently defense related, with major thrusts in the past several years concentrating on high-speed train development, nonmilitary submarines, and tourist submersibles. RUBIN designed the only Russian tourist submersible now in service, which began operations in 1993 at the island of Antigua in the Caribbean. Other defense conversion activities have focused on areas in which RUBIN has expertise: coal and nuclear power stations; floating power stations for the northern parts of Russia; gas and oil exploration and production; and participation with ROSSHELF, which has U.S. company partners. The team was told that about 2,000 employees work at this location. A salient feature is that RUBIN has strong connections to former Soviet Union countries. RUBIN has created a broad spectrum of organizational expertise that is incorporated in books and on a computer database. In addition, RUBIN has had extensive at-sea experience with sunken submarine investigations. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES The team was given a briefing on RUBIN that focused on the bureau's responsibilities regarding the Komsomolets nuclear submarine that sank in 1,700 m water off Norway in 1989. Mr. Nikolay Nossov, the submarine's designer, informed the team that RUBIN is heading a team of forty Russian institutes, organizations, and companies that are studying the submarine. Concern was expressed that radiation could leak from missiles and contaminate a large area because of the aperiodically high (up to 1.5 m/sec) currents in the area. RUBIN planned to attend the Radioactivity and Environmental Security in the Oceans Conference at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on June 7-9, 1993 to describe the environmental monitoring program on the Komsomolets submarine. Two videos (including an ABC newscast) and numerous pictures of the submarine that were taken by the Mir 6,000 m submersibles were shown to the team. Also present at this meeting was one of the Mir pilots. Two remotely operated vehicles designed for operation from the Mir submersibles while inspecting the submarine externally and internally were described. Specifications on these ROVs were provided by Intershelf. See M. Lee's site report on Intershelf for more information. The WTEC team's hosts from RUBIN described two versions of gamma counters that were specifically designed for radioactivity measurements at the submarine site. These designs use sodium iodide (NaI) gamma detector. One version is attached to the Mir submersible and measurements are made directly; the other instrument is configured so that it can be inserted into the submarine hull and record data for a one-week deployment. RUBIN was responsible for leading the development of selective absorbants of radioactive nuclides, including cesium, uranium, and plutonium. These absorbants were developed by the Nizhny Khlopin Radiation Institute of St. Petersburg and the Arzamas 16 Russia Nuclear Center near Nizhny Novgorod. These absorbants are used in conjunction with the NaI gamma counters to provide a complete measurement of the radioactivity. There have been three expeditions to the Komsomolets site. Two expeditions were organized by RUBIN. However, the first one was conducted by another institute that may have used an autonomous undersea vehicle called the MT-88. This 6,000 m capable AUV was developed at the Institute for Marine Technical Problems in Vladivostok. RUBIN recognizes the high cost of conducting operations with large ships and the need for automated systems. RUBIN has created a working group of many firms and institutes capable of investigating radioactive objects on the ocean bottom. Having been responsible for many of the designs, the institute's scientists are very knowledgeable of the object, can conduct the necessary sampling and experimentation, and can predict the effects. Site: Scientific Research Institute of Computer Complexes (NIIVK) 108 Profsoyuznaya St. Moscow 117437 Russia Telephone:095 330-0992-7401 Fax: 095 434-0065 Date Visited: May 11, 1993 Report Author: D. Blidberg ATTENDEES WTEC: D. Blidberg HOSTS: Alexander Krupsky Director for Research and Development Juri Mordovski Director, Sigma Technologies Telephone:095 924-1654, 921-6396 Fax: 095 924-1654 BACKGROUND The meeting at the Scientific Research Institute of Computer Complexes (Nauchno- Issledovatesky Institute Vychislitelnyh Kompleksov or NIIVK) was held with representatives of NIIVK and other companies that were using the software that had been developed at the institute. An overview of the institute and its activities was presented and then various applications were described by members of the companies that had developed or were developing those applications. The institute was represented as the organization in Russia that was responsible for designing all computer hardware and software. It did not build many of the subsystems, but participated in the design, development, and system integration. It seemed that the institute was guided by the needs of radar and sonar processing as well as the missile warning system. Recently some of those applications (such as the missile warning system) were unclassified, but many of the sonar and radar processing applications remain classified. NIIVK was founded in the 1950s to develop computer hardware and software systems. In 1976 the institute moved to its current location. NIIVK has developed four to five generations of large computers (supercomputers). Originally the institute focused on developing computers for classified applications, but recently it has focused on some unclassified applications. NIIVK's scientists developed the early warning system for missile attack that is now unclassified, but continues to develop some systems for radar and sonar applications that remain classified. The following summary will give some idea of the focus of the institute. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES Scientific Research Institute of Computer Complexes The Scientific Research Institute of Computer Complexes, situated in Moscow, is a member of the Scientific Industrial Association for Computers (NPO SVT), the largest such association in Russia. The staff of NIIVK was formed in the early 1950s. After creating the M-2 and M-4 computers (two of the first Soviet computers), the serial semiconductor computer M-4-2M was designed in 1964 and was serially produced until the end of the 1980s. The computer M-10, designed by the NIIVK in 1975, contained parallel architecture. Novel technical ideas were realized in this computer that allowed noted scientist and computer architect M.A. Kartsev, the first director of NIIVK, to achieve a high performance. American researchers P. Wolcott and S. Goodman wrote: "The N-10 is distinguished by its ability to conveniently parallel-process data of different formats, dynamically changing the clustering of processors to match the format of the data at hand." The newspaper ComputerWorld USSR gave the following estimation of the computer M-10: "Apotheosis of heroic period of the Soviet informatics was a creation of the powerful 64-bits vector-pipeline supercomputer M-10...." The original trends of the NIIVK supercomputer are characterized by usage of so-called "type M" architecture, the first representative of which was computer M-10. This architecture is notable for using a wide-format memory that exchanges vector operands with several identical processors, executing the same instruction stream. A later stage in the development of the type M computer architecture was the creation of the new vector multiprocessor supercomputer M-13, which was produced serially beginning in 1985. The peculiarities and architectural principles of computers developed by NIIVK provide high performance for real time data flow processing with large amounts of information (real time radar and sonar signal processing, image recognition, etc.). These peculiarities and principles are as follows: o SIMD-type architecture o Architecture with wide command word and adjacent operations parallelism o Vector processing on the base of the wide format memory buses (up to 512 information bits per machine cycle) o Variable vector components' format (1,2,4 or 8 bytes per component) o Vectors components masking o Nontraditional vector processing operations (vector component sums' summing, scalar product of vector operands, etc.) o Virtual memory (segment-page organization), capability-base addressing, segment protection on lock/keys base (without tagging) o Special processors, working with the computer common memory, including FAT processor (performance up to 2.4 billion operations/s) etc. o I/O channels processors and connection processors with programmable interfaces (connecting practically arbitrary devices without need of special equipment) o High capacity for external information exchange (up to 400 byte/s) Architectural principles developed and realized by NIIVK in the M-10 system were used in the Burroughs BSP Computer. Some technical decisions in vector processing coincide with those in Cray and CONVEX computers. Also, some memory organization features are similar to capability-based systems (like Plessey System 250 and Intel iAPX 432). NIIVK has designed software products for its computers, including the following: o Operating systems (time sharing, real time), programming languages of various levels together with correspondent compilers o Programming systems for these languages (including vector processing oriented languages) o Application packages for mathematical calculation methods' support (linear algebra, integration, differential equation solving, etc.) The different models of computers designed by NIIVK have been produced serially for nearly thirty years and work with high reliability, providing all requirements of the most crucial networks and systems up to the present. Because of the need to model sound propagation fields, a new computer design has been undertaken. The new machine is referred to as a database machine. The system design was completed and construction had begun; however, construction has been stopped due to lack of funding. The machine deals with numeric data, textual (or symbolic) data, and other information. This new computer was felt to be the system on which artificial intelligence (AI) systems might be implemented as well as other software. AI may be used for identification and classification applications in the future. When asked about the data to be included in the database machine, the team was told that the institute focuses only on the design of hardware and software systems. However, the institute's scientists have collected various oceanographic data from the Atlantic Ocean that has been included in the new computer design efforts. Applications Discussions Mr. Juri Mordovski, Director of Sigma Technologies, discussed work underway at the company. Sigma Technologies was started two years ago to focus on the development of AI and the transfer of that technology to the United States and other markets. The company undertook several applications, including two that were suggested by the Director of NIIVK, Mr. Alexeev. Some of the applications suggested were the development of a system for monitoring large mechanical systems, and development of AI systems for automatic monitoring of other complex systems, and automatic surveying. When Mr. Mordovski was asked if he knew of any AI efforts being undertaken in Russia related to undersea systems, he stated that as far as he knew, "there is no work in Russia where AI is being applied to undersea systems." His company had recently undertaken a summary of AI work underway in Russia and found only work in expert systems. The company has developed some automatic translation tools that are now available. One discussed was a translator to translate legal documents from Russian to English in real time over electronic mail (E-mail). The company has been working on this with Lockheed and several other U.S. companies. Mr. Anekyn is the head of a small group in Volna that is focusing on the development of sonar systems utilizing some of the work produced at NIIVK. Acoustic Fields Investigations Algorithms with super resolution have been developed in the institute. This high resolution is possible because the institute's scientists have been able to eliminate all surface and bottom reverberations, greatly suppressing unwanted returns. NIIVK has databases of oceanographic data; physical and geological data; bottom and surface data; and hydrological water parameters, such as CTD information. Near Area View Sonar Bottom and surface reverberation is understood and mapped in this system. Medical Imaging Development of medical imaging systems is underway at the Cardiological Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The center has a 5 MHz sonar that develops 2-D images. Scientists can combine those 2-D slices to develop 3-D images now, but hope to develop a system that will produce 3-D images in real time. SUMMARY As a result of visits to the United States, specifically NASA, NIIVK representatives assess their capability as being up to date in the area of software development but not in terms of hardware development. Their computers seem to be less capable than comparable U.S. hardware, but the Russians make up for that disadvantage by increased sophistication of microprogramming and more complex control devices within the computer hardware. There seems to be a concerted effort to bring some of the developed algorithms into commercial products. These, when developed, will be very capable systems. The NIIVK representatives with whom the WTEC team met were very helpful and encouraged further cooperation in all of the areas discussed. They want to find methods by which to disseminate information about their work, such as professional publications to which they might submit their results. There seems to be much good work to better understand. Time limitations constrained in-depth discussions of their various activities. Site: St. Petersburg State Marine Technical University of Ocean Technology 3 Lotsmanskaya St. St. Petersburg 190008 Russia Date Visited: May 21, 1993 Report Author: A. Kalvaitis ATTENDEES WTEC: A. Kalvaitis N. Caplan M. Lee HOSTS: Dr. Dimitriy M. Rostovtsev Rector, Dr. of Sc., Professor Dr. Aleksey M. Markov Head of Patent Department Dr. Tatiana Peregudova Vice Director, Research Dept. Professor V.I. Nikolaev Director, Research Lab of Automation of Designing Ship's Power Installations Dr. Juri I. Zhukov Dean, Dept. of Electronics & Control Systems BACKGROUND This university was founded in 1902 as a department of St. Petersburg Polytechnic. It later gave birth to the Leningrad Shipbuilding Institute, which became a leading educational institute for ocean technology and marine engineering in the former Soviet Union (FSU). Subsequently, it evolved into the State Marine Technical University (MTU). At present, MTU provides a wide range of programs, both undergraduate and postgraduate, leading to B.Sc., Engineer and M.Sc. Doctoral degrees (equivalent to Ph.D. and D.Sc.). A major department within MTU is the Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Technology. MTU's 5,000 students are involved in all aspects of marine and ocean technology, with approximately 30 percent specializing in electronics and control systems. Until last year, most of the foreign students were from Eastern Europe, Vietnam, North Korea, and Cuba. However, now MTU is soliciting students from other countries (e.g., India, Nepal, Jordan, and China). The university has 600 faculty members, 1,500 auxiliary personnel, and 300 professional researchers. Over 1,000 patents have been awarded to faculty members. The university is interested in sending its professors abroad on two-year teaching assignments to broaden their knowledge. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES Since nearly all undersea technology in the FSU had been associated with the defense sector, concern was expressed about the future and the defense conversion process. Nevertheless, MTU seems to have redirected its programs toward the civilian sector. For example, new educational programs have been offered on underwater capabilities for the exploration of ocean resources. The goals are to provide engineers of the 21st century with the capability to develop underwater robots with elements of artificial intelligence. Other study areas include: design of unmanned submersibles; power systems for submersibles (generally unmanned); design of control instrumentation, automation and computers for unmanned submersibles; information systems, hydroacoustics, navigation, and underwater communication; autonomous control of submersibles; and automation of technical processes, robotics, and underwater manipulators. Professor V.I. Nikolaev gave the panel a computer capabilities demonstration. The computer laboratory consists of four personal computers; these were the only computers this travelling party of WTEC team members saw in Russia. Prof. Nikolaev showed us a model that measures the effectiveness of such underwater vehicles as submersibles, ROVs, and towed systems for locating underwater objects. The model incorporates a 25-year data base. It also tracks reliability and maintenance. The university is interested in foreign partnerships and cooperation in various fields: design and construction of ships, underwater platforms and apparatus; ecology (pipeline safety); miscellaneous underwater tasks (salvage techniques); ship and vehicle propulsion, including drag reduction; power plants (Sterling engines); new technologies (laser treatment of materials); strength and structural mechanics (dynamics of the interactions with platforms); instrumentation, measurement, and information systems; and other underwater programs. The university has established a company, PAKS Ltd., for joint ventures and marketing various innovations. PAKS has a staff of 28 people, including three who received "USSR Inventor" titles. The company provides designs for unconventional propulsion for ships and submarines, constructs models, and conducts scientific and experimental studies in the university's test facilities. WTEC team members were given a brochure describing a Complex for Lifting Large Sunken Objects (CLSO). The Komsomolets nuclear submarine was obviously the genesis of this capability. A 100:1 scale working model of the lifting apparatus and a video tape have been produced. Software has been developed for simulating the lift dynamics; design of various holding devices for salvaging large objects of different types and sizes; robotics systems; and burying techniques if the object is not salvaged. The university seeks foreign partners for the detailed design, development, and use of this CLSO capability. Other ideas of interest that the university has developed include an ultra-short baseline underwater tracking system with a range of 1,000 m. It is unclear if this is a prototype or a production model. Another development is a low noise thruster (noise is reduced by 12 dB) called "double counter jets" that operates in laminar flow. The university is seeking an industry partner to continue this research since the military no longer supports these activities. In summary, the State Marine Technical University of Petersburg is a unique educational facility that offers a broad spectrum of training in nearly all disciplines related to undersea systems. The university has initiated several enterprises and companies, and is interested in establishing joint ventures. The WTEC team was told that this university trained most of the engineers and researchers working at the design institutes we had visited in St. Petersburg. REFERENCES Complex for Lifting Sunken Objects (CLSO). Brochure. International Cooperation in the Field of Science and Higher Education. Proposals. 1992. Direction Finder Sonar Transponder DF 1000-04. Performance specifications (brochure). Paks Ltd. Brochure. 1991. Paks Ltd. Rotor-Rudders for Seagoing and River Vessels. 1991. Educational materials on the Marine Technical University. In Russian and English. 1993. Reliability of Ship Structures Research Laboratory. Brochure.