Development of autonomous underwater vehicle `AQUA EXPLORER 2´ for inspection of underwater cables

Author

Kojima, Junichi ; Kato, Yoichi ; Asakawa, Kenichi ; Matumoto, Sigetaka ; Takagi, Satoru ; Kato, Naomi

Author_Institution

KDD Kamifukuoka R&D Labs., Saitama, Japan

Volume

2

fYear

1997

fDate

6-9 Oct 1997

Firstpage

1007

Abstract

A new autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) named AQUA EXPLORER 2 (AE-2) has been developed. AE-2 can trace buried underwater cables and can measure their burial depth at a low operating cost. It can be controlled through a low-bit-rate acoustic link, and can send a video signal through another high-bit-rate acoustic link. Compared with its prototype AQUA EXPLORER 1000 (AE-1000), performance has been considerably improved due to an overall revamping of the mechanical and electrical design. The continuous operating period is now six times longer for a total of 24 hours at a velocity of one knot, while its dry weight has been reduced by half to 260 kilograms. The first long pool test and the first sea trial were successfully carried out

Keywords

automatic optical inspection; marine systems; mobile robots; object detection; submarine cables; telemetry; telerobotics; underwater sound; visual communication; 24 hour; 260 kg; AQUA EXPLORER 2; autonomous underwater vehicle; burial depth; buried underwater cables; continuous operating period; dry weight; electrical design; high-bit-rate acoustic link; inspection; low-bit-rate acoustic link; mechanical design; sea trial; underwater cables; video signal; Communication cables; Costs; Inspection; Prototypes; Remotely operated vehicles; Sea floor; Testing; Underwater acoustics; Underwater cables; Underwater vehicles;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

OCEANS '97. MTS/IEEE Conference Proceedings

Conference_Location

Halifax, NS

Print_ISBN

0-7803-4108-2

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/OCEANS.1997.624128

Filename

624128