Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

An Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) is a robot which travels

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underwater. These vehicles are usually battery powered and can

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operate in water as deep as 6000 meters. With recent advances in

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battery technology, these robotic submarines can travel tens of

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kilometers. In military applications, they are also known as Unmanned Undersea Vehicles (UUVs).

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Primarily oceanographic tools, AUVs carry sensors to navigate

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autonomously and map features of the ocean. Typical sensors include

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compasses, depth sensors, sidescan and other sonars, magnetometers, thermistors and

Related Topics:
Compass - Sidescan - Sonar - Magnetometer - Thermistor

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conductivity probes.

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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 days or weeks, periodically relaying data by satellite to shore, before returning to be picked up. When a surface reference such as a support ship is available, ultra-short baseline (USBL) positioning is used to calculate the location of the subsea vehicle relative to the known (GPS) position of the surface craft by means of acoustic range and bearing measurements; for the longer range types the AUV itself will surface and take its own GPS fix. In 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. These observations are filtered to determine a final navigation solution.

Related Topics:
Underwater gliders - GPS - Inertial navigation system - Filtered

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