The autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) MACO was developed at the University of Victoria, in partnership with Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) as part of a feasibility study. DRDC was interested in investigating the use of an AUV to support rapid deployment of acoustic element arrays. The requirements on the AUV to stop and hover, while triggering a low frequency sound source, lead to the multiple thruster, hybrid design of MACO.This thesis presents the development of MACO with the primary focus on the A W dynamics modelling and its controller design. The project commenced with the development of the vehicle's mechanical and software systems, followed by the collection of the open-loop experimental data. This data was used to produce drag and inertial parameters, which were used during the dynamics modeling process for each degree of freedom (surge, yaw, heave, and pitch). Next, discrete controllers based on PID, feed forward, and velocity feedback were added to each model dong with discretely represented sensors in the feedback loop. The closed loop responses of each simulated controller were then compared with experimental response data collected during lake testing for model validation. Finally, the overall AUV mission performance was evaluated based on an analysis of path deviation error during sea trials.

The design and preliminary testing of a prototype ranging system, capable of being utilised by an underwater positioning system, is presented in this paper. The system extends the reach of the terrestrial global positioning system (GPS) to the subsea environment. The prototype system incorporates a topside surface buoy that receives and relays the GPS data, via acoustic signals, to the subsurface receiver. The receiver calculates the range from the topside buoy using the coded acoustic signal. Key operating characteristics of the system are experimentally investigated: long-and short-range accuracy, repeatability and resolution. The prototype ranging system also demonstrates the feasibility of a full-up underwater vehicle positioning system (comprising three topside buoys and a receiver). The ranging system's experimental performance has been extrapolated to show that a theoretical position accuracy of 6.5m will be attainable for an unlimited number of underwater receivers operating within a 1km 2 workspace.

The ocean technology test bed (OTTB) will be an engineering laboratory, located on the sea floor. The OTTB will be integrated with the VENUS (Victoria Experimental Network Under the Sea) observatory in Saanich Inlet, on Vancouver Island. It will enable scientific instrument prototyping, ocean technology development and systems engineering. More specifically, it will facilitate research into the technologies required to extend the reach of cabled ocean observatories using underwater vehicles, autonomous instrumentation, and acoustic networks. This project will first develop the necessary infrastructure and then use the installation to conduct research to advance the state of underwater technology for cabled ocean observatories.The infrastructure will provide a 3-D arena in which underwater engineering research can occur. This arena will effectively be a wet lab for engineering research. Inside of the arena, the OTTB will provide power and communication to static instruments and precision tracking for research on dynamic systems, like vehicles. The facility will consist of a retrievable platform connected to the VENUS node, a top-side ROV, and an integrated acoustic system (IAS). The platform will be the backbone of the installation. It will provide an array of ports with power and communication similar to those available on the VENUS and NEPTUNE nodes. However, unlike a typical observatory node, the platform will be easily raised and lowered simplifying the task of deploying instruments for the purpose of testing and development. The platform will be equipped with a video monitoring system allowing for real-time video of any experiment occurring on or near the platform. The top-side ROV will also be a key component of the test facility, providing surface support to the facility. It will be available to complete routine maintenance, move things around, assist in deployments, and to retrieve any wayward experiments.The IAS will provide the precision tracking in the 3-D arena around the installation. It will consist of a number of cabled acoustic monitoring satellites which will be positioned around the OTTB test site. In the systems initial configuration, the satellites will act primarily as receivers and each object in the arena will carry a small self-contained pinger. The satellites will track the pinger through 3-D space using triangulation. This tracking information will be available to the researchers in real-time through the OTTB user interface. The OTTB facility will provide a user interface that can be accessed over the internet, allowing researchers to monitor or conduct tests on their equipment from anywhere in the world.Once the OTTB infrastructure is in place, the project research team will inaugurate it by pursuing research topics related to hybrid autonomous vehicles, autonomous instrumentation and underwater vehicle docking. This facility will provide the tools that outside researchers need to assist in the development of new underwater technologies including: underwater vehicles, guidance, navigatio...

The Ocean Technology Test Bed (OTTB) is a multi-functional underwater test facility developed by the Ocean Technology Lab (OTL) at the University of Victoria to serve military, academia, government and industry. The OTTB is located off the coast of Vancouver Island, Canada. It resides in 80m of water and covers 2-square kilometers of the seafloor. A seafloor cable provides power and communication to a recoverable platform. The platform sits inside of an Integrated cabled long baseline Acoustic System (IAS), which provides precision tracking and acoustic communication throughout the OTTB arena. The facility has the tools researchers require to develop new underwater technologies, such as: oceanographic sensors, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs); underwater AUV docking systems; guidance, navigation and control algorithms; multiple vehicle cooperation; acoustic communication; and autonomous remote sensors.The OTTB project is a satellite off of the Victoria Experimental Network Under the Sea (VENUS) observatory in Saanich Inlet, and was originally proposed as an engineering laboratory to facilitate the development and testing of new underwater technology for use on cabled ocean observatories, and as a proving ground for demonstrating the suitability of existing technology for long term deployments in remote locations. The facility has subsequently come to fill a broader role, serving as a test facility for surveying, security and other ocean sensing applications.The first phase of the OTTB installation has been completed and operational testing is now underway. This document describes the development and installation of this unique facility and presents case studies for the first few experiments to capitalize on the capabilities of the OTTB.

In this paper, we describe the progress of the construction of the Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics laboratory test-bed at the University of Victoria, Canada. The test-bed will be used to support research in the performance of multi-conjugate adaptive optics, turbulence simulators, laser guide stars and miniaturizing adaptive optics. The main components of the test-bed include two micro-machined deformable mirrors, a tip-tilt mirror, four wavefront sensors, a source simulator, a dual-layer turbulence simulator, as well as computational and control hardware. The paper describes changes in the optomechanical design, characteristics of the hot-air turbulence generator, performance achievements with the tip-tilt and MEMS deformable mirrors as well as the design and performance of the wavefront sensors and control software.