Design and Development of Novel System for Increasing Range of an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle

摘要

This paper demonstrates the design and development of a novel system which comprises of a command boat and Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) with which, one is able to extend the range of operation of the Remotely Operated underwater Vehicle (ROV) which is limited by the length of tether. The UUV proposed in our system can be utilized along with features and functionality of existing designs, along with an added advantage of incorporating additional accessories depending upon the application. The system comprises of three components: a control unit, command boat and an UUV. The control unit is situated in any physical planar surface. The operator controls the command boat-UUV system wirelessly, which are linked using a tether. The UUV can assist in exploration, research, search and recovery etc. In the case of search and recovery, the command boat is guided to the required location, then the system identifies the retrievable using camera and appropriate sensors, then the UUV is deployed which is further guided towards the retrievable, and a pair of robotic arms with tangible gripper recovers the retrievable (weighing atmost 2kg). The UUV and the retrievable is docked to the command boat and the system is acquired, hence completing the operation.