Sea Dragon - Low-Cost Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles play an important role in underwater inspections. These inspections can be related to the significantly growing sustainable energy sources, such as offshore wind farms, or to the increasing concerns about underwater wildlife. In either case, these vehicles can help reduce costs and prevent potential incidents caused by human interaction in this field. However, the high cost of these vehicles limits their widespread availability for both research and inspection purposes. This paper presents the design and development of Sea Dragon, a low-cost modular autonomous underwater vehicle for researchers and developers. The platform is built using widely available components and 3D printing to ensure affordability and ease of modification. The proposed configuration of the Sea Dragon includes five-thrusters, enabling maneuverability for pipe-following and other common AUV tasks, and all necessary components for implementing a control system. A mathematical model is derived to provide the first general steps for implementation of control. Experimental results demonstrate the Sea Dragon's capabilities, with actuator and sensor signals during open-loop experiments. The core functionalities, that the Sea Dragon platform provides, make it an accessible and adaptable solution for underwater research and development for autonomous underwater operations.