Design and experiment of a Long Range Autonomous Underwater Vehicle for Ocean Acoustic Data Observation

Abstract In order to realise noise measurement and target detection, this paper designs a long range autonomous underwater vehicle (LRAUV), namely ‘Petrel’, which contains a variable buoyancy system, attitude adjustment mechanisms, pitch and heading control planes, acoustic vector sensor (AVS) and a propeller. The variable buoyancy system can realise the adaptation of Petrel LRAUV to the density at different depths, thus reducing the useless work of overcoming buoyancy during sailing, and significantly increasing the range to 2,000 km. Furthermore, the Petrel LRAUV has four observation modes (gliding, cruising, station-keeping and drifting), which are driven by the synchronous movement of a variable buoyancy system, attitude adjustment mechanisms and a propeller. The results of long range sea trial missions demonstrate that the Petrel LRAUV could continuously monitor environmental parameters in the ocean, such as temperature, salinity, and ocean currents over several months. Besides, the outcomes of the passive target detection mission reveal that the vehicle, equipped with the AVS system, effectively tracked the bearing changes of the moving surface vessel.