Efficient Use of AUVs in the Maritime Environment

Abstract

Abstract. Autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) a.k.a. underwater drones are subsea vehicles which operate in the underwater environment independently of direct human input. There is a growing interest in underwater data collection by using autonomous underwater vehicles within the oceanographic research community. In this paper, the Iver 2 AUV is examined to accomplish accurate side-scan data while executing well planned missions. Therefore, this papers goal is to establish the optimal use conditions for the AUV that RCN has so that we maximize the detection probability of sea bottom objects that can be risk factors and at the same time to cover a surface as large as possible during a single mission. IntroductionThe capability of protecting marine areas and important objectives situated near the shore against dangers associated with surface or underwater threats is critical for providing security in marine activities. Significant categories of threats are ships, small crafts and divers -these can either transport terrorists or various dangerous substances and materials in the protected area or can deposit such items on the sea bottom in the area, or can even conduct terrorist action themselves. This is the reason that the mission profile for a SIROLC-type system (System for detection, localization, tracking and identification of risk factors addressing important strategic objectives in littoral areas) should focus on two main objectives. The first one is to detect, locate and identify, through regular inspections and post-mission analysis the presence on the sea bottom or near it of objects that can become dangerous to the shipping activities in the area and for the protected objective.For this purpose SIROLC will have in its configuration an AUV-type subsystem for underwater surveillance [1] and which is fitted with specific sensors for orientation and determination of its own position and for determining the conductivity and salinity parameters, needed for calculating the sound speed profile at depth (information needed for increasing the performance of sonar systems). For observing the objects situated on the sea bottom the AUV subsystem is fitted with a high resolution side scanning sonar.A second objective is that of signaling the presence near the protected area of small ships or divers. There are various systems that can detect and track targets that move on surface or underwater, the most often used being of the active type (sonar and radar) [1].The AUV has a main role in the missions of detection, localization, tracking and identification of risk factors situated on the sea bottom as it can be deployed in relatively large areas with a high coverage degree with spatial and temporal resolutions that can not be achieved through other means. At the same time, the AUV efficiency is very high when compared to the costs and duration of measurements [3].