TOBI is an instrumented vehicle which is towed close to the bottom of
the deep ocean from a ship, and uses sound to form detailed images of
the sea floor. The paper describes the mechanical design of this vehic
le and its instrument package. The way in which sonar images are forme
d is discussed and the acoustic design parameters are considered. Sign
als are frequency multiplexed on to 10 km of armoured coaxial towing c
able, which also provides the power to the vehicle and a two-way commu
nication link. At the ship these signals are separated, displayed and
logged onto magneto-optical cartridges. Examples of results are shown
and some future developments are identified.