Mission Plan
Mission Plan

Education
Education

Thunder Bay
Thunder Bay

Shipwreck Vignettes
Shipwreck Vignettes

Sonar and AUV Technology
Sonar and AUV Technology

launching an AUV
Launching an AUV

Recovering an AUV
Recovering an AUV

Explorers
Explorers

Information

 

 

a view of the AUV just before lowering it into the water. It is about 20 ft above the water.

A view of the AUV just before lowering it into the water.  It is about 20 feet above the water. Click image for larger view and image credit.

Launching an AUV

Charles Loeffler
Senior Engineering Scientist
Applied Research Laboratories
University of Texas, Austin

camera icon A short video of the AUV submerging. (Quicktime, 296 Kb)

An AUV launching is filled with excitement and anxiety.  The excitement comes from the months or even years of working on the AUV, sonar, or data processing computer programs and seeing all of them work.  It also comes from the possibilities of new discoveries.  The discoveries can be new types of features on the lake bottom; new ways in which the sounds waves interact with the environment; unanticipated capabilities of the data processing schemes; and in this expedition, undiscovered shipwrecks.  Anxiety builds as this heavy vehicle is lifted with a crane high above the ship’s deck and the surface of the water, then as the possibility that the AUV might sink if the buoyancy is not correct, and then the mission begins and the AUV disappears into the depths of the water for hours at a time.  Ultimately, the voices of the engineer and explorer in your head prevail and the AUV is launched—then you watch and wait for the results.

The AUV is under remote control, swimming a safe distance from the ship, just before it is commanded to begin its mission and dive below the surface.

The AUV is under remote control, swimming a safe distance from the ship, just before it is commanded to begin its mission and dive below the surface. Click image for larger view and image credit.

The AUV is now autonomous and is beginning to submerge.

The AUV is now autonomous and is beginning to submerge. Click image for larger view and image credit.

To launch the AUV, it is first craned off the deck of the ship into the water.  Once in the water and before the crane cable is released, the lifting line is slackened to test the buoyancy of the AUV and to check the software in the AUV (via a WiFi link) to verify that everything is ready to operate.  Now the cable is released and the AUV is remotely controlled to swim on the surface to a safe distance away from the ship.  After a final check, it is commanded to start its mission and it is now autonomous.

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