The USF researcher's Guided Surface Vehicle can carry testing equipment and "see" and "hear" security threats.
By MONIQUE FIELDS
Published April 28, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - The toy-like device glides quietly over the water, its camera slowly scanning the area in front of it.
Eric Steimle, who is at the controls, peers through his goggles. After several seconds, he sees an anomaly attached to the sea wall. Actually, the camera spots it and relays it to him, which is the point of the experiment.
"You could inspect the bridge, looking for packages," explains Steimle, a research professor at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg and a self-professed gadget guy. "And you don't have to have anyone in harm's way."
Steimle built the water-skimming device, which he calls a "Guided Surface Vehicle," with products available at a local hardware store. It is designed to help with environmental testing, but Steimle has other plans for its use, including homeland security.
At 55 pounds, the GSV is lightweight and agile. Steimle can control it with a remote control from up to 2 miles away. The vehicle moves in all directions and maneuvers easily through water as shallow as 18 inches. And it is surprisingly cheap - only $5,000 to build.
Steimle says his idea is nothing fancy.
"It's a pickup truck for your instruments," he says. "If anything breaks, you go to Home Depot or Wal-Mart. You just buy it."
Similar devices exist, but they are larger, less versatile and up to 80 times as expensive. The Remotely Operated Vehicle, for example, has a tether that limits its range. The Autonomous Underwater Vehicle can be programmed to go to a site, perform a task and return, but can't function in shallow water or small spaces.
Steimle's creation, developed in conjunction with USF's Environmental Science, Policy and Geography program, can be deployed from a beach or a boat. It's so simple that Steimle has taught children how to maneuver it in Bayboro Harbor.
But the GSV is no toy. USF professors are lining up for a chance to deploy it in high-priced research.
They have used it to carry hydrophones, which measure underwater sounds. It has ferried an underwater mass spectrometer, which detects chemicals in water. Researchers are hoping the spectrometer will help them pinpoint the source of pollutants in area waterways.
"It's a convenient way to do chemical mapping with a chemical sensor," says Tim Short, a sensor engineer in USF's College of Marine Sciences. "Using a wireless communications system, we can look at the data in real time."
Tom Hopkins, a retired professor of biological oceanography, was so impressed with the GSV that he wrote the cost of using the vehicle into his research grant. He plans to study particles in surface water, and can't wait to get started.
The GSV provides "a handy, convenient way to sample near shore water in calm conditions," Hopkins says.
