Integrated Navigation for Deep Ocean Positioning: Systems and Techniques Used During the Salvage of the Air India Jetliner

Michael Higgins

Abstract:	The tragic loss of an Air India jetliner off the coast of Ireland on June 21, 1985 resulted in an operation that illustrated the state-of-the-art systems and techniques used in deep ocean integrated positioning and navigation, the aircraft debris was spread over a 30 square·mile stretch of ocean, in depths of over 6,700 feet. the search and mapping effort, followed by the recovery operation, required the use of both sub sea and surface based navigation equipment for accurately logging the positions of hundreds of pieces of debris. Eastport International was integrally involved with this Air India project as the operators of the SCARAB remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and the navigation systems. A microcomputer based integrated navigation system (called ALLNAV), engineered, built, and operated by Eastport, was used as the primary navigation system. ALLNAV was used for positioning the SCARAB ROV, working on the seafloor, and the support ship, JOHN CABOT, above. With the integrated navigation system processing both acoustic positioning data and radio positioning data, Eastport was able to precisely determine the lat/long seafloor positions of all located debris. This paper will address the requirements of, and equipment and techniques used for, sub sea integrated navigation. the application of integrated navigation equipment on the Air India operation will be used as a case example.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (1987) June 23 - 25, 1987 Dayton, Ohio
Pages:	178 - 184
Cite this article:	Higgins, Michael, "Integrated Navigation for Deep Ocean Positioning: Systems and Techniques Used During the Salvage of the Air India Jetliner," Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (1987), Dayton, Ohio, June 1987, pp. 178-184.
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