Design of a prototype miniature autonomous underwater vehicle

Platoons of cooperating autonomous underwater vehicles have the potential to contribute significantly to scientific investigations in the marine environment. Platoons of vehicles can survey large areas, adaptively track and measure time-varying processes such as tidal fronts and algal blooms, and they are robust to single-point failures. We have developed a prototype miniature low-cost autonomous underwater vehicle to address the platform requirements of these missions. The vehicle is designed as a test-bed for the development of distributed control and estimation algorithms, and for experiments in advanced navigation and control.