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An Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) is a robot which travels underwater. Sometimes called Unmanned Underwater Vehicles, these devices are powered by batteries or fuel cells and can operate in water as deep as 6000 meters. Advances in propulsion systems and power source technology give these robotic submarines extended endurance in both time and distance. ASIMO, a humanoid robot manufactured by Honda. ...
USS Virginia, a Virginia-class nuclear attack (SSN) submarine Alvin in 1978, a year after first exploring hydrothermal vents. ...
 Picture taken from the HSV Swift by an employee of Bluefin Robotics Corporation during a US Navy exercise Some of the first AUVs were developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the nineteen seventies. One of these is on display in the Hart Nautical Gallery in MIT. At the same time, AUVs were also developed in the Soviet Union (although this was not commonly known until much later). In military applications, AUVs are also known as Unmanned Undersea Vehicles (UUVs). They should not be confused with ROVs which are similar unmanned undersea vehicles that are controlled and powered from the surface by an operator/pilot via an umbilical. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1410x1064, 149 KB) Picture taken by an employee of Bluefin Robotics Corporation during a US Navy Exercise from the HSV Swift. ...
Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1410x1064, 149 KB) Picture taken by an employee of Bluefin Robotics Corporation during a US Navy Exercise from the HSV Swift. ...
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private, coeducational research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ...
Variety of ROVs: Work Class, General, Mini Remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) is the common accepted name for tethered underwater robots in the offshore industry. ...
The oil and gas industry uses AUVs to make detailed maps of the seafloor before they start building subsea infrastructure. The detailed maps from the AUVs allows the Oil Companies to install pipelines and sub sea completions in the most cost effective manner with the minimum disruption to the environment. A typical military mission for an AUV is to map an area to determine if there are any mines. Scientists use AUVs to study the ocean and the ocean floor.
Although not currently operational, there are several designs of AUV that are capable of subsea intervention (interaction with subsea structures) as opposed to fly-by data collection. The development of subsea processing in deep and ultra deep offshore oilfields and their cost of maintenance will be the most likely drivers to make these vehicles routinely operational.
Primarily oceanographic tools, AUVs carry sensors to navigate autonomously and map features of the ocean. Typical sensors include compasses, depth sensors, sidescan and other sonars, magnetometers, thermistors and conductivity probes. A demonstration at Monterey Bay in California in September 2006 showed that a 21 inch diameter AUV can tow a 300 feet long hydrophone array while maintaining a 3 knot cruising speed. A compass (or mariners compass) is a navigational instrument for finding directions on the Earth. ...
Categories: Technology stubs ...
The F70 type frigates (here, La Motte-Picquet) are fitted with VDS (Variable Depth Sonar) type DUBV43 or DUBV43C towed sonars SONAR (SOund Navigation And Ranging) — or sonar — is a technique that uses sound propagation under water (primarily) to navigate, communicate or to detect other vessels. ...
A magnetometer is a scientific instrument used to measure the strength and/or direction of the magnetic field in the vicinity of the instrument. ...
NTC thermistor, bead type, insulated wires Thermistor symbol A thermistor is a type of resistor used to measure temperature changes, relying on the change in its resistance with changing temperature. ...
A view of Monterey Bay Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean, on the coast of California, south of San Francisco. ...
Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area Ranked 3rd - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²) - Width 250 miles (400 km) - Length 770 miles (1,240 km) - % water 4. ...
 Bluefin-12 AUV with a Buried Object Scanning Sonar (BOSS) integrated in two wings. This picture was taken in January 2005 off the coast of Florida during engineering trials. Today, most AUVs work in conjunction with surface vessels for navigational purposes, although ultra-low-power, long-range variants such as underwater gliders are becoming capable of operating unattended for weeks or months in littoral and open ocean areas, periodically relaying data by satellite to shore, before returning to be picked up. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1856x1392, 1149 KB) Bluefin-12 AUV with a Burried Object Scanning Sonar (BOSS) integrated in two wings. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1856x1392, 1149 KB) Bluefin-12 AUV with a Burried Object Scanning Sonar (BOSS) integrated in two wings. ...
NOAA Personnel launch a Slocum Glider off of Florida An underwater glider is a type of autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) that uses small changes in its buoyancy in conjunction with wings to convert vertical motion to horizontal, and thereby propel itself with very low power consumption. ...
AUVs can navigate inside a net of acoustic beacons; this is known as Long Base Line (LBL) navigation. When a surface reference such as a support ship is available, Ultra-short baseline (USBL) positioning is used to calculate where the subsea vehicle is relative to the known (GPS) position of the surface craft by means of acoustic range and bearing measurements. When it is operating completely autonomously, the AUV will surface and take its own GPS fix. Between position fixes and for precise maneuvering, an inertial navigation system onboard the AUV measures the acceleration of the vehicle and Doppler velocity technology is used to measure rate of travel. A pressure sensor measures the vertical position. These observations are filtered to determine a final navigation solution. USBL (Ultra-short baseline) is a method of underwater acoustic positioning. ...
Over fifty GPS satellites such as this NAVSTAR have been launched since 1978. ...
An inertial navigation system measures the position and altitude of a vehicle by measuring the accelerations and rotations applied to the systems inertial frame. ...
The Kalman filter is an efficient recursive filter that estimates the state of a dynamic system from a series of incomplete and noisy measurements. ...
Most AUVs in use today are powered by rechargeable batteries (lithium ion, lithium polymer, nickel metal hydride etc). Some vehicles use primary batteries which provide perhaps twice the endurance -- at a substantial extra cost per mission. A few of the larger vehicles are powered by aluminum based semi-fuel cells. Li-Ion Camera Battery Lithium ion batteries (or Li-ion) have become very common and dropped in price recently. ...
Lithium polymer batteries (Li-Poly or LiPo) are rechargeable batteries which have technologically evolved from lithium ion batteries. ...
Modern, high capacity NiMH rechargeable batteries A nickel metal hydride (or NiMH) battery is a type of rechargeable battery similar to a nickel-cadmium (NiCad) battery but which does not contain expensive (and environmentally risky) cadmium. ...
A fuel cell is an electrochemical device similar to a battery, but differing from the latter in that it is designed for continuous replenishment of the reactants consumed; i. ...
Hundreds of different AUVs have been designed over the past 20 or so years, but only a few companies sell vehicles in any significant numbers. The small REMUS 100 AUV developed by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the US and now marketed by Hydroid, Inc. is the most popular AUV in the military and scientific markets today. In the oil and gas industry, the larger Norwegian HUGIN 3000 AUV developed by Kongsberg Gruppen and Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI) dominates. Other notable AUV manufacturers include Bluefin Robotics in the US and International Submarine Engineering Ltd. in Canada. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) is devoted to scientific research and science- and engineering-education leading to MS and PhD degrees in oceanography and related fields. ...
Kongsberg Gruppen (KOG) (lit. ...
The Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (NDRE), known in Norway as Forsvarets forskningsinstitutt (FFI) conducts research and development on behalf of the Norwegian Armed Forces and provides expert advice to political and military defence leaders. ...
See also The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) is a not-for-profit oceanographic research center in Moss Landing, California affiliated with the Monterey Bay Aquarium. ...
The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (U of M, U-M or simply Michigan) is a coeducational public research university in the state of Michigan, and one of the foremost universities in the United States. ...
ONR Logo The Office of Naval Research (ONR), headquartered in Arlington, Virginia (Ballston), is an office of the U.S. Navy that carries out scientific research to support the Navy and Marine Corps in the interest of national security. ...
National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK National Oceanography Centre, Southampton at sunset The National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS) is a purpose-built, joint venture between the University of Southampton and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). ...
External links Image File history File links Information. ...
Collection of groups and projects
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Research at universities - Autonomous Systems and Controls Laboratory, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
- Robotics & Automation Lab, University of Western Australia, also provide a free 3D submarine simulator.
- Department of Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering, University of Michigan
- Department of Ocean Engineering, Florida Atlantic University
- AUVs in operation at UNC Wilmington
- SONIA AUV project developed by undergraduates at École de technologie supérieure (ETS - Canada)
- An AUV project, being developed by students at Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP - Porto, Portugal)
- Mobile and Marine Robotics Research Centre, University of Limerick, Ireland
- Ocean Systems Laboratory, Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh, Scotland, UK)
- Underwater Systems and Technology Lab (Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Portugal)
Created in 1974, École de technologie supérieure (Higher School of Technology) is an engineering university member of Université du Québec network. ...
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