The primary objective of this research project is to develop a small, lightweight sensor to be mounted on an underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) which will allow the operator to determine the depth of burial of an underwater cable. Phase I will investigate alternate approaches to accomplish the objective, will select the desired approach and will develop a preliminary design. To accomplish this task, three major areas of effort have been identified. The first area includes program initialization wherein the collection of all available literature regarding sensors of interest is reviewed and a comparison matrix is developed to provide a logical process by which the selection of the desired approach can be made. The second area of effort involves the investigation into the alternative approaches which, by use of the comparison matrix, leads to the selection of the desired approach. Having accomplished the selection process, the third area of effort involves the preliminary design, specification and final report tasks.
