A review on the advances in underwater inspection of subsea infrastructure: Tools, technologies, and applications

Subsea infrastructure is seen to be of extreme importance in facilitating offshore energy generation, telecommunication, undersea defense, and environmental monitoring systems. Currently, the number of offshore and underwater installations used by the whole world is on the rise, which is why the need to find as efficient and reliable approaches to inspection as possible is on the rise. Conventional diver-based inspection methods fall short in depth, safety and scale. This paper has examined the existing challenges in subsea inspection and discussed the advantages as well as disadvantages of Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), and semi-autonomous ROVs in multiple inspection conditions This paper has presented rather advanced tools like advanced sonar systems, Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUVs), integrated survey platforms, and artificial intelligence (AI)-based analytics. This paper also examines in detail these technological advancements mainly their principles, applications and effectiveness. It also addresses issues related to submerged environment and future of subsea inspection.