Application of underwater vehicles to submarine cable survey in the Bohai Sea

To ensure the security of submarine cables and the successful in-position of the drilling platform for one time, the technology of using underwater vehicles is applied to the Bohai Sea for the irst time, so as to determine the exact position of submarine cables. In this paper, the cable surveying equipment including the underwater vehicle, TSS440 cable surveying system, differential posi- tioning system and underwater positioning system, and the surveying process are introduced. Field application shows that the use of un- derwater vehicles can help overcome the dificulties in Liaodong Bay, such as the shallow and turbid water, and the effect of water low. The successful mapping of the position coordinates and maps of submarine cables guarantees the in-position of the drilling platform.