Affordable Deep Ocean Exploration with a Hovering Autonomous Underwater Vehicle: Odyssey IV: a 6000 Meter Rated, Cruising and Hovering AUV

Abstract

The Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Laboratory (AUVLAB) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is currently building and testing a new, general purpose and inexpensive 6000 meter capable Hovering Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (HAUV), the 'ODYSSEY IV class'. The vehicle is intended for rapid deployments, potentially with minimal navigation, thus supporting episodic dives for exploratory missions. For that, the vehicle is capable of fast dive times, short survey on bottom and simple navigation. This vehicle has both high speed cruising and zero speed hovering capabilities, enabling it to perform both broad area search missions and high resolution inspection missions with the same platform.