Project “V-FIDES”: An innovative, multi purpose, autonomous underwater platform

The proposed work aims to describe the “V-FIDES” project, focused on developing a new generation of agile, over-actuated, long endurance Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, for deep underwater exploration, operation and environmental monitoring. The project, co-funded by Tuscany Region (Italy), has been developed by a team lead by WASS S.p.A. (Whitehead Sistemi Subacquei, Livorno), with the participation of several partners including Kayser Italia S.r.l., Scuola Superiore Sant´Anna, University of Pisa and other SMEs in the Tuscany area. This paper gives an overview of the developed general architecture of the vehicle and obtained results during the project.