NAVOCEANO Seahorse AUV design, testing, and capabilities

After an initial conceptual design phase, the Applied Research Laboratory at the Pennsylvania State University (ARL/Penn State) began in April 1999 design and construction of an autonomous undersea vehicle (AUV) to specifications provided by the Naval Oceanographic Office of the United States Navy (NAVOCEANO). The first Seahorse AUV was delivered for testing 13 months later. An additional vehicle has been delivered and a third is under construction for NAVOCEANO. This paper describes the requirements for which the vehicles were designed and the actual construction of the vehicle, and presents some examples of the types of missions that have been run.