Surface-Operated Profiling Paravane

A surface-controlled paravane system was built to serve as a submerged platform for towing a buoyant cable. APL modeled the paravane after a helicopter-towed minesweeping vehicle designed at the David Taylor Naval Ship Research and Development Center. The APL system allows a shipboard operator to direct the vehicle to hold a constant depth, to change depth, and to change between port and starboard tow-off directions. In addition to running the paravane at constant depth (as in the cable test), the system can operate in a mode wherein the depth is continuously changing. Such operation could be useful for oceanographic surveys if the paravane were instrumented with environmental sensors. Several profiling test runs were made at tow speeds from 5 to 11 knots over a 25 m vertical aperture. Climb/dive angles of about were typical when averaged over two or more profiling cycles. A maximum angle of was measured during the climb leg at 9 knots.