Autonomous underwater vehicle
An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a robot that travels underwater without requiring continuous input from an operator. AUVs constitute part of a larger group of undersea systems known as unmanned underwater vehicles, a classification that includes non-autonomous remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) – controlled and powered from the surface by an operator/pilot via an umbilical or using remote control. In military applications an AUV is more often referred to as an unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV). Underwater gliders are a subclass of AUVs.
History
The first AUV was developed at the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington as early as 1957 by Stan Murphy, Bob Francois and later on, Terry Ewart. The "Self-Propelled Underwater Research Vehicle", or SPURV, was used to study diffusion, acoustic transmission, and submarine wakes.
Other early AUVs were developed at the
Applications
This type of underwater vehicles has recently become an attractive alternative for underwater search and exploration since they are cheaper than manned vehicles. Over the past years, there have been abundant attempts to develop underwater vehicles to meet the challenge of exploration and extraction programs in the oceans. Recently, researchers have focused on the development of AUVs for long-term data collection in oceanography and coastal management.[2]
Commercial
The oil and gas industry uses AUVs to make detailed
Research
Scientists use AUVs to study lakes, the ocean, and the ocean floor. A variety of sensors can be affixed to AUVs to measure the concentration of various elements or compounds, the absorption or reflection of light, and the presence of microscopic life. Examples include conductivity-temperature-depth sensors (CTDs), fluorometers, and pH sensors. Additionally, AUVs can be configured as tow-vehicles to deliver customized sensor packages to specific locations.
The Applied Physics Lab at the University of Washington has been creating iterations of its Seaglider AUV platform since the 1950s. Though the
]An example of an AUV interacting directly with its environment is the Crown-Of-Thorns Starfish Robot (
The Queensland University of Technology has also developed the RangerBot AUV as a predecessor to the COTSBot to help monitor the Great Barrier Reef and reefs around the world. The RangerBot was developed for single person deployment and offers real-time on-board vision for navigation, obstacle detection, and management tasks.[6]
Hobby
Many roboticists construct AUVs as a hobby. Several competitions exist which allow these homemade AUVs to compete against each other while accomplishing objectives.
Illegal drug traffic
Submarines that travel autonomously to a destination by means of GPS navigation have been made by illegal drug traffickers.[12][13][14][15]
Air crash investigations
Autonomous underwater vehicles, for example
Military applications
The U.S. Navy Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV) Master Plan[18] identified the following UUV missions in 2004:
- Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance
- Mine countermeasures
- Anti-submarine warfare
- Inspection/identification
- Oceanography
- Communication/navigation network nodes
- Payload delivery
- Information operations
- Time-critical strikes
By 2014, the Navy Master Plan divided all UUVs into four classes:[19][full citation needed]
- Man-portable vehicle class: 25–100 lb displacement; 10–20 hours endurance; launched from small water craft manually (i.e., Mk 18 Mod 1 Swordfish UUV)
- Lightweight vehicle class: up to 500 lb displacement, 20–40 hours endurance; launched from RHIB using launch-retriever system or by cranes from surface ships (i.e., Mk 18 Mod 2 Kingfish UUV)
- Heavyweight vehicle class: up to 3,000 lb displacement, 40–80 hours endurance, launched from submarines
- Large vehicle class: up to 10 long tons displacement; launched from surface ships and submarines
In 2019, the Navy ordered five Orca UUVs, its first acquisition of unmanned submarines with combat capability.[20]
In 2022–23, during the
Vehicle designs
Hundreds of different AUVs have been designed over the past 50 or so years,[31] but only a few companies sell vehicles in any significant numbers. There are around 10 companies that sell AUVs on the international market, including Kongsberg Maritime, HII (formerly Hydroid, and previously owned by Kongsberg Maritime)[32]), Bluefin Robotics, Teledyne Gavia (previously known as Hafmynd), International Submarine Engineering (ISE) Ltd, Atlas Elektronik, RTsys,[33] MSubs[34] and OceanScan.[35]
Vehicles range in size from man portable lightweight AUVs to large diameter vehicles of over 10 metres length. Large vehicles have advantages in terms of endurance and sensor payload capacity; smaller vehicles benefit significantly from lower logistics (for example: support vessel footprint; launch and recovery systems).
Some manufacturers have benefited from domestic government sponsorship including Bluefin and Kongsberg. The market is effectively split into three areas: scientific (including universities and research agencies), commercial offshore (offshore energy, marine minerals etc.) and defence related applications (mine countermeasures, battle space preparation). The majority of these roles utilize a similar design and operate in a cruise (torpedo-type) mode. They collect data while following a preplanned route at speeds between 1 and 4 knots.
Commercially available AUVs include various designs, such as the small
Most AUVs fall into the survey class or cruising AUVs, in a cylindrical or torpedo shape with a powered propeller. This is seen as the best compromise between size, usable volume, hydrodynamic efficiency and ease of handling. There are some vehicles that make use of a modular design, enabling components to be changed easily by the operators. Some recent developments move away from the traditional cylindrical shape in favour of other arrangements such as Saab's Sabretooth hybrid R/AUV or the recently launched HUGIN Edge. These either optimise the shape according to the operational requirements (Sabretooth) or to benefit from low drag hydrodynamic performance (HUGIN Edge).
The market has matured since 2010 with greater emphasis on data than on vehicle characteristics. Operators are more technically aware and the utilisation of AUVs has increased commensurately. More operators use their systems autonomously, rather than supervising the vehicles using an acoustic link. Consequently, on-board processing and in-mission autonomy have become more important features for AUVs. Most AUVs have what is considered navigational or event-based autonomy. They will follow a geographic mission plan with distinct events to operate sensors, change course or return to the surface. Some AUVs have adaptive autonomy, for example the ability to adjust course to avoid obstacles along the planned route. The current state of the art is a vehicle that collects, processes and acts on the data it has acquired without operator input.
As of 2008, a new class of AUVs are being developed, which mimic designs found in nature. Although most are currently in their experimental stages, these
Sensors
AUVs carry sensors to navigate autonomously and map features of the ocean. Typical sensors include
A demonstration at Monterey Bay, in California, in September 2006, showed that a 21-inch (530 mm) diameter AUV can tow a 400 feet (120 m)-long hydrophone array while maintaining a 6-knot (11 km/h) cruising speed.[citation needed]
Radio waves cannot penetrate water very far, so as soon as an AUV dives it loses its GPS signal. Therefore, a standard way for AUVs to navigate underwater is through
Propulsion
There are a couple of propulsion techniques for AUVs. Some of them use a brushed or brush-less electric motor, gearbox, Lip seal, and a propeller which may be surrounded by a nozzle or not. All of these parts embedded in the AUV construction are involved in propulsion. Other vehicles use a thruster unit to maintain the modularity. Depending on the need, the thruster may be equipped with a nozzle for propeller collision protection or to reduce noise submission, or it may be equipped with a direct drive thruster to keep the efficiency at the highest level and the noises at the lowest level.[38] Advanced AUV thrusters have a redundant shaft sealing system to guarantee a proper seal of the robot even if one of the seals fails during the mission.[citation needed]
Underwater gliders do not directly propel themselves. By changing their buoyancy and trim, they repeatedly sink and ascend;
Communications
Since radio waves do not propagate well under water, many AUV's incorporate acoustic modems to enable remote command and control. These modems typically utilize proprietary communications techniques and modulation schemes. In 2017 NATO ratified the ANEP-87 JANUS standard for subsea communications. This standard allows for 80 BPS communications links with flexible and extensible message formatting.[citation needed] Alternative communication techniques are being explored, including optical, inductive and RF based techniques, which may be combined in a multi-modal solutions.[40] Evaluations are also being conducted on novel communication techniques which are able to utilize the infrastructure as a communication path to provide alternative communication paths and opportunities from the vehicles.[41]
Power
Most AUVs in use today are powered by rechargeable batteries (
See also
- Intervention AUV – Type of autonomous underwater vehicle capable of autonomous interventions
- Underwater glider – Type of autonomous underwater vehicle
- Bionics – Application of natural systems to technology
- Biomimetics – Imitation of biological systems for the solving of human problems
- Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute – American oceanographic research institute
- Office of Naval Research – Office within the United States Department of the Navy
- National Oceanography Centre, Southampton– Centre for research, teaching, and technology development in Ocean and Earth science
- DeepC – Autonomous underwater vehicle powered by a fuel cell
- National Institute for Undersea Science and Technology – Research organisation within NOAA
- AUV-150 – Unmanned underwater vehicle in development in by Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute
- REMUS (AUV)– Autonomous underwater vehicle series
- MAYA AUV – Autonomous underwater vehicle from National Institute of Oceanography, India
- Torpedo – Self-propelled underwater weapon
- Theseus (AUV) – Large autonomous underwater vehicle for laying fibre-optic cable
- Eelume – Autonomous underwater vehicle being developed by Eelume AS
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Bibliography
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