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Engineering Excellence at Sea

For half a century we have demonstrated science and technology expertise and gained a national reputation. The Ocean Engineering Department serves as a resource to scientists at APL-UW, the University of Washington, other research organizations, and the U.S. Navy. We provide engineering know-how to support ambitious basic and applied research programs.

Mechanical, electrical, software, and field engineers design, fabricate, and deploy systems in the deep and coastal ocean environments, and under polar ice.

At-sea engineering

Research diving

Instrument design and fabrication

Russ Light, Department Head
"We work with our customers to meet their needs with state-of-the-art engineering."

Expertise

Mechanical Design

Scientific and naval instrumentation
Autonomous undersea vehicles
Moorings, underwater structures and towers
Harsh environment packaging (polar, shipboard, and airborne systems)
Finite element analysis
Acoustic transducers
Corrosion and abrasion analysis and control

Electrical Design

Low-power, battery operated, embedded systems
High-speed data acquisition systems and signal processing
Custom analog and digital board design, PCB layout
Complex system design, electro-mechanical systems
Custom and OEM sensor integration

Software Design

Embedded systems
Remote/autonomous operation
TCP/IP instrumentation
Linux, Windows, and DOS systems
C++, Visual Basic, Labview, Matlab, and web-based languages

Field Operations

Deployment, operation, and recovery of equipment at sea and in the Arctic
Logistics and operations support in the Arctic, at sea, and remote locations
Diving — open water and under-ice

To support shallow water and under-ice field experiments, the Department has five scientific divers certified by the American Academy of Underwater Sciences and by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration for nitrox mixed gas diving.

What's New?

APL Ice Station 2009

APL-UW's Ocean Engineering Department constructed an ice camp to support U.S. Navy and civilian personnel on the pack ice in the Beaufort Sea in March. The APLIS team provided all logistics—camp construction, infrastructure, and food services—and conducted under-ice acoustic tracking and diving operations to support naval exercises during the station's month-long habitation.
More >>

Ocean observatory engineering

We delivered the Low Voltage Power System (LVPS) for the MARS Observatory in Monterey Bay, which provides up to 9 kW at either 400V or 48V to eight connections at the seafloor science node. A mooring system will plug into the observatory; it consists of several secondary nodes — on the seafloor, on a subsurface float, and on a motorized profiling node that moves up and down the mooring cable. Each has a suite of sensors that can be monitored remotely in real time. More >>

Next-generation Seagliders

Seaglider is enhanced with a new acoustic sensor — an extremely low power and small recorder to make ocean ambient noise measurements and to receive very low frequency signals from ATOC sources. Efforts are under way to design and fabricate a second-generation glider that will travel faster and deeper, and carry a larger payload. More >>