A tether control system for an inspection vehicle operable in a housing having a liquid medium is disclosed in the present application. The tether system includes a tether connected between the inspection vehicle and an electronic controller. A controllable buoyancy system associated with the tether is operable for moving the tether in a desired location. The controllable buoyancy system includes one or more floating bodies having a propulsion system and one or more buoyant elements having variable buoyancy capabilities.

A lift bag for moving an object underwater includes a lift bag body and a buoyancy regulator device within an internal cavity of the lift bag body. The buoyancy regulator device includes concentric regulator tubes. Each regulator tube includes a regulator tube opening and the regulator tube openings may be aligned to define a regulator tube aperture. The regulator tube aperture is in fluid communication with a lift bag slot formed in the lift bag body. A constant buoyancy for the lift bag is determined by adjusting the position of the regulator tube aperture by moving the inner and outer regulator tubes with respect to each other.

A pneumatically controlled shellfish aquaculture apparatus is provided. A frame has containers for holding shellfish secured to the top side of the frame and tanks secured to the bottom side of the frame. Each tank has an air supply line connected to the tank and an opening on the bottom side of the tank. Each air supply line is connected to a manifold for controlling airflow to the tanks. Air is used to displace water in the tanks by pushing the water out of the openings in the bottom of the tanks in order to float the frame. To submerge the frame, the tanks are depressurized to allow water to displace the air in the tanks. When floating, the tanks lift the frame and the containers out of the water to allow air desiccation in order to prevent bio-fouling of the equipment and shellfish.

A floating construction comprising a container filled fully or partially with water, the lower portion of the container being located within a surrounding body of water and the water surface level of the surrounding body of water being substantially lower than the water surface level inside the container, the container comprising transparent walls or walls with transparent sections and at least one open opening for entering the container, which at least one open opening is located below the surface level of the surrounding body of water, and which floating construction comprises space for spectators observing activities taking place inside the container, wherein the floating construction comprises at least one ballast tank, which ballast tank is connected to the container with a controllable pressure connection, and which ballast tank has controllable water connection to the surrounding body of water.

A pneumatically controlled shellfish aquaculture apparatus and method for growing shellfish using the apparatus are provided. A frame has containers for holding shellfish secured to the top side of the frame and tanks secured to the bottom side of the frame. Each tank has an air supply line connected to the tank and an opening on the bottom side of the tank. Each air supply line is connected to a manifold for controlling airflow to the tanks. Air is used to displace water in the tanks by pushing the water out of the openings in the bottom of the tanks in order to float the frame. To submerge the frame, the tanks are depressurized to allow water to displace the air in the tanks. When floating, the tanks lift the frame and the containers out of the water to allow air desiccation in order to prevent bio-fouling of the equipment and shellfish.

A lift bag for moving an object underwater includes a lift bag body and a buoyancy regulator device within an internal cavity of the lift bag body. The buoyancy regulator device includes concentric regulator tubes. Each regulator tube includes a regulator tube opening and the regulator tube openings may be aligned to define a regulator tube aperture. The regulator tube aperture is in fluid communication with a lift bag slot formed in the lift bag body. A constant buoyancy for the lift bag is determined by adjusting the position of the regulator tube aperture by moving the inner and outer regulator tubes with respect to each other.

A hybrid, modularized, tailored and re-configurable distributed monitoring and characterization device for bodies of water and sediments, including oceans, lakes, rivers, and water reservoirs. The device includes individual nodes, which are deployed as either a stand-alone or networked system. Each node is a multi-physics and multi-purpose piece of equipment with electronics and sensors configured into different modules which interconnect similar to building blocks. The device provides two housing options: a hard shell housing option for shallow water and an oil-filled soft shell housing scheme for deep water.

An air, sea and underwater tilt tri-rotor UAV capable of performing vertical take-off and landing. By the method for controlling a submerged floating device and a tilt tri-rotor device, the UAV is switched among the vertical take-off and landing mode, fixed wing mode, water surface sailing mode and underwater submerging mode.

A tether control system for an inspection vehicle operable in a housing having a liquid medium is disclosed in the present application. The tether system includes a tether connected between the inspection vehicle and an electronic controller. A controllable buoyancy system associated with the tether is operable for moving the tether in a desired location. The controllable buoyancy system includes one or more floating bodies having a propulsion system and one or more buoyant elements having variable buoyancy capabilities.

A Buoyancy-Controlled Lagrangian Camera Platform and method for use to observe layers of the open ocean. The platform has subsystems for recovery, for its camera, and for its buoyancy engine, which has a buoyancy engine and engine controller to control the platform depth. The engine controller adjusts the buoyancy engine volume with an adaptive PID control system and gain scheduling to control the buoyancy engine. The method for observation consists of a camera platform, a surface vessel with an echosounder, and a means of communication between the two. The vessel uses the echosounder to identify layers of the open water for the platform to target for observation. Instruction and feedback between the platform and vessel are communicated using an acoustic modem. The vessel also uses the acoustic link to track the Buoyancy-controlled Lagrangian Platform with repeated queries on its depth and range.