{"id":{"repo_id":"woods-hole","oai_identifier":"oai:darchive.mblwhoilibrary.org:1912/3033"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/woods-hole/oai:darchive.mblwhoilibrary.org:1912/3033","repository":{"repo_id":"woods-hole","name":"Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute","base_url":"https://darchive.mblwhoilibrary.org/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Variable buoyancy system metric","abstract":"Over the past 20 years, underwater vehicle technology has undergone drastic improvements, and vehicles are quickly gaining popularity as a tool for numerous oceanographic tasks. Systems used on the vehicle to alter buoyancy, or variable buoyancy (VB) systems, have seen only minor improvements during the same time period. Though current VB systems are extremely robust, their lack of performance has become a hinderance to the advancement of vehicle capabilities. This thesis first explores the current status of VB systems, then creates a model of each system to determine performance. Second, in order to quantitatively compare fundamentally different VB systems, two metrics, βm and βvol, are developed and applied to current systems. By determining the ratio of performance to size, these metrics give engineers a tool to aid VB system development. Finally, the fundamental challenges in developing more advanced VB systems are explored, and a couple of technologies are investigated for their potential use in new systems.","abstract_html":"Over the past 20 years, underwater vehicle technology has undergone drastic improvements, and vehicles are quickly gaining popularity as a tool for numerous oceanographic tasks. Systems used on the vehicle to alter buoyancy, or variable buoyancy (VB) systems, have seen only minor improvements during the same time period. Though current VB systems are extremely robust, their lack of performance has become a hinderance to the advancement of vehicle capabilities. This thesis first explores the current status of VB systems, then creates a model of each system to determine performance. Second, in order to quantitatively compare fundamentally different VB systems, two metrics, βm and βvol, are developed and applied to current systems. By determining the ratio of performance to size, these metrics give engineers a tool to aid VB system development. Finally, the fundamental challenges in developing more advanced VB systems are explored, and a couple of technologies are investigated for their potential use in new systems.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Jensen, Harold Franklin"],"institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2009,"date_issued":"2009-06","date_published":"2009-06","updated_at":"2026-07-27T22:05:19Z","subjects":["Remote submersibles","Ocean engineering"],"languages":["en_US"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["10.1575/1912/3033"],"render_values":[{"text":"10.1575/1912/3033","href":"https://doi.org/10.1575/1912/3033","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/1912/3033","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Jensen, Harold Franklin"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2009-10-21T19:14:28Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2009-10-21T19:14:28Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2009-06"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Remote submersibles","Ocean engineering"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en_US"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["10.1575/1912/3033"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/1912/3033"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution June 2009"]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Over the past 20 years, underwater vehicle technology has undergone drastic improvements, and vehicles are quickly gaining popularity as a tool for numerous oceanographic tasks. Systems used on the vehicle to alter buoyancy, or variable buoyancy (VB) systems, have seen only minor improvements during the same time period. Though current VB systems are extremely robust, their lack of performance has become a hinderance to the advancement of vehicle capabilities. This thesis first explores the current status of VB systems, then creates a model of each system to determine performance. Second, in order to quantitatively compare fundamentally different VB systems, two metrics, βm and βvol, are developed and applied to current systems. By determining the ratio of performance to size, these metrics give engineers a tool to aid VB system development. Finally, the fundamental challenges in developing more advanced VB systems are explored, and a couple of technologies are investigated for their potential use in new systems."]},{"key":"dc:format.mimetype","label":"Dc Format Mimetype","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Variable buoyancy system metric"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Jensen, Harold Franklin"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2009-10-21T19:14:28Z"],"dc:date.available":["2009-10-21T19:14:28Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2009-06"],"dc:description":["Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution June 2009"],"dc:description.abstract":["Over the past 20 years, underwater vehicle technology has undergone drastic improvements, and vehicles are quickly gaining popularity as a tool for numerous oceanographic tasks. Systems used on the vehicle to alter buoyancy, or variable buoyancy (VB) systems, have seen only minor improvements during the same time period. Though current VB systems are extremely robust, their lack of performance has become a hinderance to the advancement of vehicle capabilities. This thesis first explores the current status of VB systems, then creates a model of each system to determine performance. Second, in order to quantitatively compare fundamentally different VB systems, two metrics, βm and βvol, are developed and applied to current systems. By determining the ratio of performance to size, these metrics give engineers a tool to aid VB system development. Finally, the fundamental challenges in developing more advanced VB systems are explored, and a couple of technologies are investigated for their potential use in new systems."],"dc:format.mimetype":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier.doi":["10.1575/1912/3033"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/1912/3033"],"dc:language.iso":["en_US"],"dc:publisher":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution"],"dc:subject":["Remote submersibles","Ocean engineering"],"dc:title":["Variable buoyancy system metric"],"dc:type":["Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T22:05:19Z"}