Cable laying ROV for Real-time seafloor observatory network construction

The Real-time seafloor observation is one of an anticipating approach for ocean research and development. Several research and development program was discussed at a lot of research communities and countries in the first decade of the twenty-first century. The submarine cabled seafloor architecture and subsea engineering capabilities are key technologies to put this novel research infrastructure into practice. For the Japanese research program DONET (Dense Ocean-floor Network for Earthquakes and Tsunamis), the authors make an alteration to a research ROV to subsea engineering vehicle. This paper describes the scenario of DONET observatories construction, detail mechanism and specifications of subsea engineering ROV and several outstanding results of sea trials.