A little bit about the Bluefin-21

The search and and rescue team in Perth have deployed the Bluefin-21 on 14 April to determine whether the acoustic signals detected in the area are indeed related to MH370's black box.

The Bluefin-21 is equipped with side scan sonar.

Each mission conducted by the Bluefin-21 will take a minimum of 24 hours to complete.

It will take two hours to get down to the bottom of the ocean, it will be on task 16 hours, it will take two hours to surface and four hours to download and analyze the data collected.

The autonomous underwater vehicle in side scan sonar mode transmits an active pulse which produces high resolution, three dimensional maps of the sea floor.

Bluefin-21