College - Author 1
College of Engineering
Department - Author 1
General Engineering Department
Degree Name - Author 1
BS in General Engineering
College - Author 2
College of Engineering
Department - Author 2
Computer Engineering Department
Degree - Author 2
BS in Computer Engineering
College - Author 3
College of Engineering
Department - Author 3
Mechanical Engineering Department
Degree - Author 3
BS in Mechanical Engineering
College - Author 4
College of Engineering
Department - Author 4
Biomedical Engineering Department
Degree - Author 4
BS in Biomedical Engineering
Date
5-2026
Primary Advisor
Jenna Kloosterman, College of Engineering, Electrical Engineering Department
Additional Advisors
Karla Carichner, College of Engineering, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Department Lauren Rueda, College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering Department
Abstract/Summary
I. PROBLEM STATEMENT
The Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary contains a diverse array of benthic habitats that remain largely undocumented due to the financial and logistical barriers of deep-sea exploration. Traditional high-end autonomous underwater vehicles and remotely operated vehicles capable of reaching 1000-meter depths require significant surface support infrastructure and hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding. Furthermore, navigating protected ecological zones demands strict adherence to "Leave No Trace" principles. Conventional benthic landers and submersibles routinely leave metallic debris behind; many submersibles use galvanic timed releases that corrode in seawater over a set period of time or heat-activated bolts to ensure weights are jettisoned even if the primary systems fail. These fail-safes inherently result in heavy-metal pollution and leaching, degrading the exact environments they are designed to study.
II. APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY
The Deep Ocean Research-Explorer (DOR-E) project presents an affordable, modular, and zero-trace autonomous benthic lander designed to conduct biological surveys at 1000meter depths. The architectural core of DOR-E centers around four highly integrated mechanical and autonomous subsystems designed to reliably capture high-resolution marine data while eliminating long-term environmental impacts.
The most critical innovation is the environmentally friendly sand-based weight release system, which replaces expendable iron or concrete chains and corrosive fail-safes with bioinert beach sand. The system utilizes two vertically mounted sand tubes integrated with an electromagnet-actuated drop plate. To ensure reliable actuation at 1000 meters, the electromagnet is housed inside a 10 MPa-rated pressure casing. Because standard steel end caps act as a low-reluctance path that can shunt the magnetic circuit, the design utilizes a thinner 1/16-inch 1018 ferromagnetic steel cap to minimize this shunting effect. This maximizes the magnetic flux reaching the external drop plate, allowing the internal magnet to securely hold the system. An autonomous timer de-energizes the circuit at the end of the deployment, releasing the plate along guide rails. The sand is deposited harmlessly onto the seafloor, restoring the lander’s positive buoyancy and ensuring a clean ascent.
Complementing the release mechanism, the lander features custom conical spike-style landing gear that is 3D printed using PLA. These spikes are engineered with a 25-degree draft angle to distribute landing forces, preventing the frame from becoming deeply embedded in soft benthic sediment and ensuring a smooth liftoff. To attract various fish species, a rigid vinyl-coated steel bait cage replaces traditional mesh bags to guarantee bait retention, maintain a fixed geometry within the camera's field of view, and provide consistent scent diffusion. The camera system is paired with a red-filtered LED light to illuminate the seafloor without disturbing light-sensitive deep-sea organisms. Finally, visibility for surface retrieval is enhanced using SOLAS micro-prismatic retroreflective marine tape adhered to our buoy, and a high-contrast flag, maximizing the lander’s profile in varying ocean conditions.
III. KEY RESULTS
Extensive bench testing and computational analyses have validated the lander's deep-ocean capabilities. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) confirmed that the Aluminum 6061-T8 camera housing can comfortably withstand 10 MPa of uniform hydrostatic pressure, verifying its structural integrity for 1000meter deployments. The optimized electromagnet release system successfully demonstrated the capacity to hold 45 pounds of ballast through the pressure casing, confirming the fail-safe's mechanical robustness.
Economically, the transition to a sand-based ballast system and reusable modular components has reduced the recurring deployment cost by 88.7%, dropping the expense from $27.01 to roughly $3.05 per mission. By the time of the conference, live deployments will have yielded comprehensive field results, including several high-definition videos of the ocean floor showcasing carnivorous creatures attracted to the bait arm. This visual data will provide a direct assessment of marine life population density within the target zones.
IV. RELEVANCE TO THE OCEANS COMMUNITY
The DOR-E lander directly aligns with the OCEANS community’s focus on ocean observing systems, remote sensing operational observation, and autonomous underwater vehicles. By combining accessible, low-cost engineering with an uncompromising commitment to zero-trace exploration, this platform offers a scalable blueprint for researchers worldwide. Its novel sand-release mechanism provides a superior, ecologically sound alternative to galvanic and heat-activated fail-safes, expanding the possibilities for sustainable, high-frequency benthic surveying in the world's most sensitive marine sanctuaries.
URL: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/mesp/872