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A large variety of instruments having different weights and sizes can be attached to the Acrobat. This variety can be seen in two photos of customer Acrobats. The large system has an attached, optional instrument rack.

This rack is designed for the Acrobat but may be used separately for vertical profiling. The instruments are attached to supports which are easily positioned "fore and aft". This design provides for easy access to connectors, battery compartments, switches, and other instrument features requiring maintenance or activation. It also allows repositioning of the instrument payload for optimum towing.

The small system is shown with an optical plankton counter (underneath) which also has an I/O for other sensors as requested by the customer. This makes for a very lightweight system easily transportable between boats. In shallow water the user does not need a winch. A simple line clamp, preset to partially release if the tow system gets snagged during operations, is sufficient and relatively inexpensive. Winch and slip rings can easily be incorporated at a later time without any modifications to the Acrobat systems.

INTEGRATION

To integrate user instrumentation is relatively simple and requires the answer to the following:

1. What is the physical size and buoyant weight of the instrumentation to be carried by the Acrobat?

2. What are the sensor orientation requirements with respect to the flow of water and nearness of other instruments?

3. How many conductors are required for power and data?

4. What gauge conductor for lengths of the order of 150m?

5. What are the specs (including pin designations) of the instrument Bulkhead connector normally used to connect to the sea cable?

With this information, the instrument(s) can be placed on the Acrobat, connected to the sea cable via the Acrobat T-cable, and operated with its deck command (with or w/o a computer as required) & power supply, independantly of the Acrobat command and control system.