Ginelle Nazareth
Growing up in India, Mechatronic Systems Engineering student Ginelle Nazareth aspired to follow in her engineer father's footsteps, watching in awe as he fixed broken appliances in their home. 鈥淗is approach was always very methodical,鈥� she says. 鈥淭o an outsider it seems amazing; almost magical, but then you realize it鈥檚 just simple, logical steps.鈥�
Fast-forward a decade, and Nazareth is applying the same logic in a co-op placement with International Submarine Engineering, a company that designs, builds and integrates high-tech submersible vehicles.
During her first eight months on the job, Nazareth was developing control system software for a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). 鈥淚t鈥檚 essentially an underwater frame fitted with sensors, thrusters and mechanical arms,鈥� she explains. 鈥淭he frame is attached to an 鈥榰mbilical鈥� cable that comes up to a shipping container on the surface; power and signals are both transmitted through the cable.鈥�
Inside the shipping container is 鈥渕ission control,鈥� a room filled with computers from where technicians control the underwater vehicle. 鈥淵ou have a joystick and you can move the vehicle forwards or backwards; it鈥檚 like playing a video game, but it鈥檚 real life,鈥� says Nazareth. The vehicle can perform underwater tasks considered too dangerous for divers, such as maintaining underwater oil pipes.
Usually, the software that controls the movement of the vehicle is modified from a previous system, explains Nazareth. 鈥淚n this particular case it was a refit, so the physical system was as old as I am; it was built in 1992.鈥� Nazareth was tasked with modifying code from a newer machine to update the older physical system鈥檚 software.
This semester, Nazareth wrote two manuals for an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). 鈥淭hey are infinitely more complicated than ROVs,鈥� she says. Since there was little existing documentation for the vehicle鈥檚 new components and functionality, Nazareth worked from the ground-level up, speaking directly to people who worked on the project and analyzing the code to understand how the system operates.
鈥淚 discovered that I actually really enjoyed this 鈥� I even had the opportunity to see the vehicles work in sea trials, where the system is tested in the water,鈥� she says. Now, she is working on a user interface for surface vehicles used for offshore seismic surveys. It鈥檚 complex work, but Nazareth keeps her father鈥檚 methodical, logical problem-solving skills top-of-mind.
鈥淭he most difficult part of modifying the ROV鈥檚 software was keeping track of the changes: it鈥檚 the sheer magnitude of a project where there are 100 or so symbolic code drawings to work through and change,鈥� she says.
鈥淚f you鈥檇 told me at the start of my co-op term that I was going to modify an ROV鈥檚 software by myself, I wouldn鈥檛 have believed you. But I did it, and I鈥檓 very proud of that.鈥�