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Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

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Re: Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

#91

Post by twbarr »

tredre3 wrote: post #16
srmarm wrote: post #3

The US Navy uses an Xbox 360 controller in active service [0] Mass market has a lot of R&D to leverage so it makes sense. Nothing to say this is the cause of the fault and probably going to be more reliable than something hand rolled. [0] https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/19/16333376/us-navy-military...

I personally believe using mass market makes sense. I don't understand the criticism I've seen on this website for using off the shelf controllers or camping lights (what do you expect, an LED strip magically engineered by a large aeronautics firm specifically for the sub? and what would that change?). That being said, the difference between a Microsoft controller and a third party is that Microsoft very certainly di…

There's a middle ground between "hardware store crap" and "custom." The aviation industry has plenty of standard interior lighting and environmental control system that's known not to light people on fire or short out or otherwise fail and kill somebody.

https://www.collinsaerospace.com/what-we-do/industries/busin...

These are still COTS products.

Re: Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

#92

Post by shadowgovt »

Strom wrote: post #18
JDW1023 wrote: post #17

> According to the BBC, the entire sub is bolted shut from the outside, so even if the vessel surfaces, the occupants cannot escape without outside assistance and could suffocate within the capsule. Why is the submarine bolted shut from the outside?

I guess for the immense pressure you get at that depth. However an emergency release would still make sense.

An emergency release implies explosive bolts that could fail catastrophically at depth.

... which would be a risk that I might recommend for another application and manufacturer, but not for this firm, apparently. For this firm, I think I'd recommend "Don't do what you're doing, but if you must, keep it as simple as possible."

Re: Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

#94

Post by PokemonNoGo »

TillE wrote: post #81
martin_ wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note that the BBC is funded primarily by what's known as a "TV License"[0] in the UK - I think it's entirely possible they could probably increase ads or something for international viewers but understand why it isn't their area of focus [0] https://www.bbc.com/aboutthebbc/governance/licencefee

People - including politicians - have said for many years that the BBC should sell iPlayer subscriptions to international viewers, but they just...don't. They also have a massive archive of beloved content, enough to be a first-class streaming platform, but that stuff's not available even to UK residents.

Probably because with their current scheme they liscens the material for other markets and thus would be in violation of these kind of deals? As well as their co-funding/producing of foreign material. The question I would as as a liscense payer is what they earn through this.

Not saying it's not possible but why it is quite the hard thing to get out of, and not spend liscens money while doing so, makes sense. I would guess someone has made these calculations once or twice too.

Pretty sure it's not that they "just don't" though.

Re: Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

#95

Post by dmonitor »

ethbr0 wrote: post #51
addaon wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and what would that change? Suitability for purpose. Some obvious ones: Defined and validated environmentals (temperature, voltage, and in this case pressure). Qualified components — capacitors chosen for lifetime rather than shaving a cent, perhaps avoidance of MEMS oscillators with helium sensitivity. Failure analysis. Low and understood probability of fail-unsafe conditions (short circuit), mitigation for those…

Yes, if one had the budget to do all those things, from scratch, better than an existing component manufacturer. Not many companies have NASA levels of "throw money at it until it works, and every part has been signed off on five times." Absent that, I'm having trouble seeing how custom > COTS. In all probability, anything in-house would have been worse and added new failure modes. Better to buy, analyze, and adapt a…

If you can't afford to qualify the components on your 4000m diving vehicle, you can't afford to make a 4000m diving vehicle.

See: the fact that they lost their diving vehicle.

Re: Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

#97

Post by bleepblop »

euroderf wrote: post #85
idop wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So apparently this OceanGate company is a VC-funded startup or some such founded "to make underwater exploration cheaper and accessible to private citizens" (Wikipedia quote). Tells me everything I need to know about how this all came to be.

The next test dive to max depth is reserved for the board of directors.

Ah yes, the life insurance scheme.

Re: Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

#98

Post by thesausageking »

aezart wrote: post #7

The fact that it's wireless is the scariest part to me. What if it runs out of battery? What if it desyncs?

They have multiple of them on board and can swap in a new one if there's an issue. The focus on the controller is misplaced to me. Game controllers are well made and better suited for the job than custom hardware. It's just the association with videogames that makes it seem odd.

If they used $30 logitech keyboard as well, would anyone question that?

Re: Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

#100

Post by gsanderson »

rwmj wrote: post #46

There's a BBC documentary from last year which I just watched: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0fpz9zw and honestly a lot of it seems quite amateur hour. One of the steering motors was fitted backwards. When they discovered this, at the bottom of the ocean and a few hundred feet from Titanic, the solution they used was to hold the gamepad at right angles to compensate. That time they proceeded with the tour and mad…

Ah, I remember watching that travel show episode. It takes on a whole new perspective now.
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