Development of a Highly Autonomous Underwater Vehicle for Scientific Data Collection

Abstract

Abstract — For decades engineers have been developing the tools necessary for marine scientists to study our oceans; the work being done with autonomous vehicles has presented these scientists with a new dimension of possibilities. Researchers at the University of Victoria are developing an autonomous underwater vehicle capable of monitoring and reacting to scientific events during a long term deployment in an area of interest. This problem presents challenges in several areas. Long term deployments (weeks or months) with significant periods of loitering underwater will require the development of a localized positioning system that can give an absolute position update, much like GPS. This periodic position update can be used to counter drift in the navigation solution. In addition, the platform must be versatile so that it can carry a variety of sensor packages, which may be tethered, and utilize the sensor output for path planning and high level decision making. This versatility requires a sophisticated onboard software package capable of recognizing sensors and adapting to new vehicle configurations