But the latest AUVs are much easier to manoeuvre -- they can be launched from the shore or a small ship. And they're much cheaper, which makes them more accessible to research teams. They're also very sophisticated. They can communicate with each other and, for example, work out the most efficient way to survey a site, or to find particular objects on the seabed.
但是最新的自动水下交通工具操纵起来更加简单--它们可以从海岸或者是小船上送下水。它们也更加便宜，所以对于研究团队来说就更加负担得起。它们也非常地精密复杂。它们能够互相沟通，比如说，能够找出测绘一个地方最有效的方式，或者是找出海床上特定的东西。
Field tests show the approach can work. For example, in a trial in 2015, three AUVs searched for wrecks at Marzamemi, off the coast of Sicily. The site is the final resting place of an ancient Roman ship, which sank in the sixth century AD while ferrying prefabricated marble elements for the construction of an early church. The AUVs mapped the area in detail, finding other ships carrying columns of the same material.
实地测试表明这种方式行得通。比如说，在2015年的测试中，三个自动水下交通工作在马尔扎梅米寻找沉船，从西西里的海岸出发。这个地点是一艘古罗马沉船最终落脚的地方，它在公元六世纪沉入了海中，当时它正在运输用于建筑早期教堂的预先构件的大理石原料。自动水下交通工具详细地描绘了这个区域，找到了其他运输同样的材料的船。
Creating an internet in the sea for AUVs to communicate is no easy matter. Wifi networks on land use electromagnetic waves, but in water these will only travel a few centimetres. Instead, a more complex mix of technologies is required. For short distances, AUVs can share data using light, while acoustic waves are used to communicate over long distances. But more creative solutions are also being developed, where an AUV working on the seabed offloads data to a second AUV, which then surfaces and beams the data home to the research team using a satellite.
在海中为水下自动交通工具建立互联网通讯并不是件简单的事情。地面上的WiFi网络使用电磁波，但是在水中它们只能穿行几厘米而已。相反的是，需要使用更加复杂的科技混合体。而如果是短距离的话，自动水下交通工具能过使用光线分项数据，但是声波是用来在长距离的时候进行交流的。但是更加有创造性的解决方式也正在被研发，在海床工作的自动水下交通工作将数据转送到另外一个自动交通工具，然后回到海平面利用卫星将数据传送给研究团队。
There's also a system that enables AUVs to share information from seabed scans, and other data. So if an AUV surveying the seabed finds an intriguing object, it can share the coordinates of the object -- that is, its position -- with a nearby AUV that carries superior cameras, and arrange for that AUV to make a closer inspection of the object.
还有一个系统能够让自动水下交通工具分享海床扫描的信息，还有其他的数据。所以如果测绘海床的自动水下交通工具找到了非常有趣的东西，它可以将这个物体的坐标进行分享--那就是它的位置--给周围的有高级摄像头的自动水下交通工具，然后为那个自动水下交通工作安排进一步检查那个物体。
Marine archaeologists are excited about the huge potential of these AUVs for their discipline. One site where they're going to be deployed is the Gulf of Baratti, off the Italian coast. In 1974, a 2,000-year-old Roman vessel was discovered here, in 18 metres of water. When it sank, it was carrying medical goods, in wooden or tin receptacles. Its cargo gives us insight into the treatments available all those years ago, including tablets that are thought to have been dissolved to form a cleansing liquid for the eves.
海洋考古学这个学科对于这些自动水下交通工具的强大潜能感到非常兴奋。他们马上要部署的一个地方是巴拉蒂湾，在意大利的海岸。在1974年，一艘2000年历史的罗马船在这里被发现，在水下18米处。当它沉没的时候，它在运输医疗物品，用木箱子或者是锡容器。它的货物让我们能够洞当时已经有的治疗方式，包括被认为应该溶解后形成清洁眼睛的液体的药片。
Other Roman ships went down nearby, taking their cargoes with them. Some held huge pots made of terracotta. Some were used for transporting cargoes of olive oil, and others held wine. In many cases it's only these containers that remain, while the wooden ships have been buried under silt on the seabed.
其他的罗马船只也在附近沉没了，带着它们的货物一起。有些携带着赤陶土做的大罐子。有些是用来运输橄榄油的，有些是装着酒。在很多情况下，只有这些箱子能够保存下来，木质的船只被埋在海床上的泥沙下。
Another project that's about to...
另外一个项目是关于...