Deploying Autosub Long Range Under the Dotson Ice Shelf: An Engineering Perspective

This paper discusses the deployment of Autosub Long Range (ALR), the long-endurance and low-power Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) of the National Oceanography Centre (NOC), under the Dotson Ice Shelf in West Antarctica. From the perspective of the engineers of NOC, the paper follows the preparation of the deployment from the initial discussions with scientists, through to the identification, implementation, and the testing of the required developments, to the final deployment, with the vehicle successfully completing several missions in the Amundsen Sea, the longest including 86 km under the ice over more than 40 hours of autonomous navigation.