Oceanographic surveys with a 50 hour endurance autonomous underwater vehicle

摘要

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) are becoming accpeted data-gathering tools within the marine science community in Europe, the US and elsewhere. Technology can now provide vehicles with a useful range and depth envelope. For example, the Southampton Oceanography Centre's Autosub-1 vehicle has already covered 263 km in a single oceanographic survey mission, reaching depths of 500 m off Bermuda in September 1998. The challenge now is to 'free the technology from the research community. Potential direct and indirect benefits from the offshore energy industry's use of AUVs have been quantified. For one company, the benefits of using survey class AUVs has been estimated at