Design Features and Test Results of an Unmanned Free Swimming Submersible

Presently various underwater tasks are accomplished by means of tethered platforms or manned submersibles. Due to the high costs of men and ships the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is developing an Unmanned Free Swimming Submersible (UFSS) to demonstrate that an autonomous vehicle may be used as an alternate method to undertake these tasks. This paper discusses the design features of this vehicle and the results of recent shallow water tests in the Patuxent River. These tests proved that UFSS could maneuver autonomously using its microcomputer. The tests also proved that under certain environmental conditions the vehicle could adapt to these conditions by use of the microcomputer and associated real-time software.