The acoustic system used by the L-Cheapo is of in-house design, based on over 10 years' development at Scripps. The current incarnation replies at 12 kHz to interrogation pulses between 9.0 and 15.0 kHz at 0.5 kHz steps. Commands are sent via an 8-bit sequence of timed pings; currently there are 16 codes at 16 different time bases. Seafloor units can be programmed to enable, disable, and release on receipt of various codes. A second release option is available, to give redundancy in the mechanical part of the release system.
Burnwire releases are used, with or without mechanical advantage. Anchor weights of up to 50 kg can be suspended from simple burnwire elements with potted plastic ferrules, or mechanical systems can be used for anchors weighing several hundred kg. We fabricate our own burn-wire releases, although recently we designed a mechanical release unit around Edgetech's burnwire element.