Profile Autonomous Underwater Vehicle System for Offshore Surveys

Abstract

Offshore marine engineering, offshore aquaculture, and offshore environmental protection require periodic offshore surveys. At present, the main means of offshore marine surveys are mooring buoys and marine survey ships. Anchored buoys are fixed in place for a long time, which affects the navigation of ships. Therefore, mooring buoys cannot be deployed over a large area with high density. The cost of marine survey ships is high, especially when multipoint synchronous marine surveys are needed, and marine survey ships cannot perform offshore surveys under bad sea conditions. A profile autonomous underwater vehicle system is developed to meet the requirements of multipoint short-term synchronous offshore surveys. It is a small, reusable, low-cost equipment designed to move up and down at a mooring position while measuring temperature, salinity, depth, and other quantities along a vertical water section. Profile autonomous underwater vehicles can be commanded remotely and report their measurements in near real-time via wireless telemetry. The time it takes for a profile AUV to move up and down can indicate the current velocity. Tests were carried out on a wharf and in offshore areas, and the results were satisfactory.