Apologies in order – in my rush to write my blog entries over the past two weeks I neglected to introduce myself. Hello! I’m Scott Heeschen, one of the programmers on this project. Of course, there are several other duties that I help out with, but my primary focus is to make sure that the computer systems that we use to fly SCINI are working and provide the features that the pilot and other folks need in order to have good, successful dives. I’ve been working on the computer programs since early summer, but only arrived recently on the ice. Fortunately Jim, the other programmer on the project, was able to take the “early shift” down here and help get SCINI diving in the first several weeks.

There are two main computer programs that run SCINI – one runs on a normal PC and we call it SCINI-pilot. It’s based on a program that a company called VideoRay has created for use with their Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), but we’ve modified it to work with SCINI. This is the program that we run in the dive hut or the Pisten Bully when we are flying SCINI., and it’s what the pilot of SCINI talks to through a joystick and computer mouse. When the pilot moves the right joystick control forward, the program interprets that to mean “Move SCINI forward”. Moving another joystick control means “Turn SCINI left”. Pushing certain buttons on the joystick controller will turn the lasers on or off, brighten or dim the forward lights, or tilt the camera to either look forward (for driving around ) or down (so Stacy can do her science). In some ways, flying SCINI feels like playing a video game.

Computer programming really just involves moving information around. Sometimes you modify the information, but a lot of the time you just move it from one place to the other. Once SCINI-pilot has gathered all the information from the joystick and mouse, it sends a digested version of that information down to SCINI over the tether – essentially a 1000-foot length of wire. The tether supplies power to SCINI, but anywhere you send electricity, you can also send information, so that’s what we do. Our information gets “added” to the electricity that runs SCINI. The process is a little more complicated than simply adding, but in essence, that’s what happens. We plug the computer cables into little Ethernet Over Power boxes that plug into the power strips that send electricity to SCINI

Once SCINI gets the information, the other main program that runs SCINI reads that information and does what it is told to do. This program is in three microcontroller boards inside SCINI. A microcontroller is basically a very small computer that, well, controls things, and in our case, the computers control three primary tasks for SCINI. One is to control the thrusters that determine which direction SCINI will fly in. Another task is to determine what direction SCINI is pointed in, and the third task is to control the lights and camera in the front of SCINI. These microcontrollers all send information back on the tether and let SCINI-pilot know what to display. This information can let the pilot know that SCINI is pointed down, or that SCINI is 500 feet deep, very useful information if you are trying to get somewhere deep in the sea.

An interesting thing about SCINI is that its thrusters are based on radio-control circuits and parts. The microcontrollers are creating the same kinds of signals that are used by radio-control planes and cars. I think it’s pretty cool that the computer programs I’ve written can make things happen in the real world and enable us to visit places nobody has ever seen under the sea.

Anyways, I hope you found that information interesting. I spent most of the day in the lab working on the programming for the microcontrollers today, so that seemed a natural thing to write about. I also figured that some people out there might be curious about how SCINI works in certain ways.

Other things happened today, too, as our team had a long day starting at 1am. Stacy was interviewed on the Today Show. Due to the time zone differences, she needed to be there super early (or you may call it super late from the previous day). Cameo already wrote about Stacy’s interview, so I won’t say anything more than we were proud to have our work and Principal Investigator on such a popular show!

The busy day in the lab was getting ready for some SCINI dives. A few events are coming up very soon that we needed to prepare for – DJ and Marco will be leaving soon. Both of them have extended their stay and are contributing so much that there is a large amount of work we need to take over from them if we hope to continue our progress.

I’m taking over some of the GPS and navigation responsibilities from Marco, so he started instructing me in its use. Marco also taught Francois and me how to use the fancy-dancy GPS system the station has issued us. I was taught more than I could learn in those few hours, but hopefully with another training tomorrow I’ll feel more comfortable with the system. Using the GPS system is important in two ways. Marco’s system is essentially an underwater GPS system, but for it to work, we need to have very accurate geometry of the holes where we put in his equipment. By using GPS to determine this geometry, we’ll be able to fly SCINI in the direction we want to instead of going in random directions. We also want to document very accurately what we find so we can revisit particular sites in the future to see how the seafloor communities change, or to know that we’ve seen every square foot of the seafloor in a certain area to determine the population density of certain animals, for example.

Also in preparation for our trip to Heald Island, part of the crew learned how to set up our Arctic Oven – a huge tent that we’ll use for running SCINI in the very remote site. The tent comes in two bags, each of which are large enough to put a person in. The crew at the Berg Field Center (BFC) which issues all kinds of gear taught Stacy, Cameo and Francois how to set it up.

Patrick, who works in the galley, has volunteered to help us with some tasks.  Here he is with a cradle he has built that will hold SCINI.  A lot of people in the community here have helped us in different ways.