Note – someone commented to me recently that half our articles are not actually about Driverless Cars per se. We post about related topics because we believe it is interesting to the readership,that it’s worth reporting on autonomous technology in most guises and that any technology that could form part of the steps towards Driverless Cars is worth reporting on. If you are reading this please provide us feedback on your thoughts!

Autonmous Underwater Vehicles

One field not really talked about much is Autonomous Underwater  Vehicles (AUVs – not to be confused with UAVs). While anything underwater remains at the fringe, progress is being made in several areas has significant implications –  some which are very scary. While they have long been used as buoys to track the weather, ocean temperatures and the like, technology is advancing at a rate of knots (he he).

Progress is somewhat incredible – NASA has developed technology which means that underwater vehicles can use thermal energy to power themselves indefinitely.

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA, U.S. Navy and university researchers have successfully demonstrated the first robotic underwater vehicle to be powered entirely by natural, renewable, ocean thermal energy.

The Sounding Oceanographic Lagrangrian Observer Thermal RECharging (SOLO-TREC) autonomous underwater vehicle uses a novel thermal recharging engine powered by the natural temperature differences found at different ocean depths. Scalable for use on most robotic oceanographic vehicles, this technology breakthrough could usher in a new generation of autonomous underwater vehicles capable of virtually indefinite ocean monitoring for climate and marine animal studies, exploration and surveillance.

Producers of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles is Hydroid Inc, a Pocasset MA based subsidiary of Norwegian firm Kongsberg Maritime, Atlas Elektronik (Germany), GAVIA (Iceland) and the CSIRO, an Australian governmental research agency.

See the video below to see their Remus series of vehicles in action.

Courtesy MyFox Boston

 Current & Potential Uses:

1. Airplane Crash Investigation

Vehicles from Hydroid were used to investigate the Air France wreckage.

The main tools for the search were three Remus 6000 autonomous underwater vehicles, or AUVs. These torpedo-shaped robots weighing 1900 pounds apiece can travel up to 22 hours at a stretch at speeds of up to 6 mph, scanning the seabed with sonar imaging systems that can image a half-mile-wide swath with every pass. “The French had submersibles that could descend to this depth and look around, but really the only way you’re going to be able to find something like an aircraft in deep water is by using this type of wide-area survey capability,” says Dominique Rissolo, executive director of the Waitt Institute, the nonprofit oceanology organization that owns two of the three AUVs used in the search.

Read more: Air France Flight 447 – Remus 6000 Autonomous Underwater Vehicles – Popular Mechanics

2. Archaeology

An AUV was used to map ruins off the coast of Greece:

But the secrets of this lost city – the world’s oldest submerged settlement – are at last being revealed with the help of ”revolutionary” underwater imaging technology developed by Sydney scientists at the Australian Centre for Field Robotics.

To assist archaeologists excavating the ancient ruin, the team have used an autonomous underwater vehicle with stereo cameras, as well as a diver-pushed rig, to produce photo-realistic 3D recreations of the seafloor site.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/student-takes-award-for-revealing-submerged-citys-secrets-20120209-1rx8d.html#ixzz1mV4rB55p

 3. Military

The implications are enormous.

- Mines

Chris J Anastasiou from the Mine Warfare Directorate gave an interesting talk about the topic – slideshow here.

According to Lt Richard Haas, USN, UUVs were the main “workhorses of the US mine clearing effort ” during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Atlas Electronik has developed a mine-sweeping, mine-hunting and – this is the scariest – mine-laying system.

The ATLAS integrated mine countermeasures system (IMCMS) is a multi-role MCM weapon system that covers the complete process of mine warfare including minesweeping, mine-hunting and mine-laying on up to task unit level, as well as supporting functions such as hydrography, environmental assessment and surface and air surveillance. The system is based on open architecture, state-of-the-art technologies and is operated from multi-function consoles allowing the control of each sub-system, such as the hull-mounted sonar, the self-propelled variable depth sonar, the autonomous underwater vehicle and the remotely controlled surface drones, from any of the consoles.

Mine disposal system

The SeaFox system is a mine disposal system which is based on the ‘expendable mine disposal vehicle’ principle (EMDV). The SeaFox I, a small, reusable and unmanned underwater drone, is used for inspection, identification and training purposes, while the identical combat vehicle SeaFox C directly disposes long and short tethered mines, proud ground mines and floating mines. The four independent, reversible motors plus one hover thruster ensure high manoeuvrability and exact positioning for firing the shaped charge.

- Reconnaisance

Lockheed Martin has won a contract to supply “a multi-mission unmanned system to perform coastal defense, or intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR). Lockheed is doing the work under terms of a $52.7 million contract from U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington.” (source)

One can imagine a network of thermal-powered UAVs patrolling the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in order to keep track of naval activity, rising to the ocean to report back to base and sinking back again.

It seems like every naval service is involved in this – during research I found references to the EU, Russia, United States, Australia, Canada, Iceland, the UK and China all developing, selling or researching AUV technology specifically geared for military applications.

- Underwater IEDs & Terrorism

While it seems no one is publicly talking about it, the threat is easily recognisable.

Torpedoes – once launched – are incredibly hard to shake. Imagine an ocean full of mines that can swim towards the target.

Think about all the potential targets, including the enormous volume of merchant ships traversing the world today, cruise ships.. the list goes on.

Almost impossible to detect quickly enough and defend against, the use of AUVs in terrorism is a definite threat. In fact, unmanned water-borne technology would be rather easy to develop and deploy when thinking about it. Terrorists are not exactly dead to the idea of attacks against Naval assets.

4. Drugs

Colombian Cocaine gangs are already using sophisticated submarines, designed with the help of ex-Russian military engineers, to transport drugs. It’s not a huge leap for them to move from this to AUVs.

In fact, any material that can be smuggled – weapons, drugs, chemicals, bootleg DVDs – would find a warm home in AUVs.

Colombian soldiers have for the first time seized a fully submersible drug-smuggling submarine capable of reaching the coast of Mexico, authorities have announced.

Heavily armed troops posed for photos with the submarine – complete with conning tower, steps up to a hatch, air-conditioning and a periscope.

Last July, another fully submersible ‘narcosub’ was seized just across the border by authorities in neighbouring Ecuador. But this new craft is one of the most advanced yet.. Read More

5. Environment.

- Protection against Oil Spills.

- Catalogue Eco-systems

- Coral Research 

Thanks to unmanned.co.uk for some inspiration during the research of this article.