The need for lower-cost AUVs to enable routine Survey and Sounding missions with a greater reliance on technology, rather than crewed workboats and expensive on-site labor, has been recognized for some time. High quality, proven electronic and electromechanical components, developed for tangential industries such as robotics, factory automation and recreational boating, now offer a wide variety of commodity-priced solutions ready for applications in traditionally sophisticated AUV missions. Commercial Maritime applications for targeted sensor functionality such as forward looking and side-scan sonar have also yielded an array of low cost sub-system components ideally suited to basic missions in the field of near-coastal hydrographic surveying. Priced appropriately, and readily available with defined physical and software interfaces, these components open the door to the development of a low-R&D, simplified Workhorse AUV. OceanServer Technology has created such an AUV by selecting commercial grade components, repeatable manufacturing techniques, and intuitive operator interfaces designed to reduce the cost of rudimentary data collection in shallow (< 200 ft) waters.
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