INNOVATION March-April 2018

F E A T U R E

temperature fluctuation problems, but with underwater work, visibility is limited to a metre or so around a light, radio waves don’t penetrate far, and GPS doesn’t work. As well, salt water and electronics don’t mix, and pressure is a real challenge. “The difference between 30 metres deep at Folger Pinnacle [one of the sea-floor observatory nodes] and 2.6 kilometres deep at Cascadia Basin is a big difference in the engineering required to keep something [a piece of equipment] alive,” Round explains. “There’s no such thing as a small leak at 2.6 kilometres deep.” But the organization, affiliated with the University of Victoria since 2007, has been successfully running and maintaining the Victoria Experimental Network Under the Sea (VENUS) observatory in Saanich Inlet and the Strait of Georgia since 2006 and the North-East Pacific Time- series Undersea Networked Experiments (NEPTUNE) observatory off the edge of the continental shelf since 2009.

Instrument platforms like this one support undersea data collection. P hoto : O cean N etworks C anada .

instruments not being able to handle our subsea power systems. We’ve had some interesting corrosion issues in areas like deep anoxic fjords in Saanich Inlet and in the hydrothermal vent fields, where you’ve got 300-odd-degree fluids coming out of the sea floor with hydrogen sulphide and a bunch of other chemicals in them.” When something goes wrong, opportunity to fix it is limited. Because maintenance expeditions take place only when the ocean is calm in late spring and summer and the organization has use of a ship, if a piece of equipment fails one year, it may not be fixed until the following year. But failure is part of the process when you’re pushing the envelope and developing new technologies for alien, hostile environments. “You learn from the failures and you put processes in place to mitigate them in the future,” Round says. “It’s a complicated systems-integration task in a harsh environment, where the opportunities to go back and fix things are limited.” Different environments mean different challenges, but at their core, a project that aims to collect consistent, reliable data from the dark, crushing depths of our own planet’s oceans and one that’s focused on sending human beings to another planet have the same basic planning requirements. Those involved need to use engineering principles and systems thinking to identify opportunities, solve problems, and streamline processes in order to take us to new depths and new heights. j

process that the organization uses. Every aspect of the construction, operation, and performance of a piece of equipment destined for under water is tested, analyzed, and documented, alone and in configuration with the components, communications systems, power supplies, and transport vehicles it will operate or be deployed with. The one parameter the crew cannot yet simulate is high pressure. This variable is risk-managed by requiring manufacturers to do their own pressure tests. “We’ve had failures,” Round admits, “where accepted practices and engineering norms have proven not to work in certain locations. We’ve had issues with

BRAND-7943 New partner print Mansour.pdf 1 2018-03-15 4:10 PM These achievements, Round says, are due to a well-defined, meticulous workflow

Adding bench strength to our accomplished Infrastructure and Construction group in Vancouver and across Canada.

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Proud to welcome Jana Mansour to our team.

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