RON II Camera System for COLLINS Class Submarine

Designed by BlueZone Group for the Royal Australian Navy COLLINS Class submarines, the RON II Camera System provides video from a Kongsberg OE14-112 Camera fitted externally to the submarine pressure hull. The camera features zoom capability (both optical and digital) plus remote focus as well as rotate and tilt functions. The design enables  flexible external viewing of the COLLINS submarine mast, periscope and general operations.
 

Seven systems in total were manufactured with the colour camera mounted onto the fin of each submarine and a monitoring and control unit installed in the bridge to allow for control of the Pan & Tilt functionality as well as for local viewing and recording of images. External outputs were also made available for routing of video to other internal submarine locations such as the sailors mess and Commanding Officer quarters.
 
Ron_II_Top_of_Fin
The RON II Camera shown mounted on the top of the COLLINS Class submarine fin
BlueZone supports TMT to deliver ROV for submarine rescue
UVS Technicians with the completed RON II Rack installation in the constrained space of the COLLINS submarine control room
The complete system design includes camera mounting bracket, underwater junction box, underwater connectors and rack mounted equipment. Materials for components in contact with sea water were selected to minimise the risk of dissimilar metal corrosion. Through hull penetrations were Souriau-type which are the standard connectors used with Collins Class wiring. Space constraints in the submarine Control Room required careful design engineering to ensure that the installation envelope was not exceeded for operation or maintenance of the rack mounted equipment.

 

 
BlueZone repairs and maintains Kongsberg cameras for many customers and is experienced in repair of the cameras at component level. This experience supports design and manufacture of system applications including Kongsberg cameras of all types combined with BlueZone software and hardware elements.