Innovation and operation with robotized underwater systems

This paper reports on the status and design of the operational remotely operated vehicle Victor 6000, rated for 6000 m depth and of the 3000 m depth autonomous underwater vehicle Asterxx operated by Ifremer the French Institute for Sea Exploitation. Victor 6000 is part of a global system built of subsystems, scientific modules, winch and cable, dead weight and umbilical, positioning subsystem using acoustic ultra short base line (USBL) techniques, and software for data and dive management. In 2005 the system was equipped with a second toolsled dedicated to high resolution mapping of the sea bed, with both acoustical and optical devices. Asterxx, the first autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) developed by IFREMER, is 4.5 m in length with a diameter of 0.69 m. Depending on the payload, its weight is between 600 and 800 kg in air,with a diving depth of 3000 m. Its cruising speed is between 0.5 and 2.5 ms. The AUV is capable of carrying various payloads for a wide spectrum of applications. The vehicle can cruise up to 100 km. For coastal applications this vehicle is operable by a limited crew potentially from a nonspecialized vessel. Both vehicles are used for oceanography as well as to continually evolve underwater systems to address new scientific challenges. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Innovation and Operation with Robotized Underwater Systems. Vincent Rigaud Director of the underwater system Dept Ifremer Zone portuaire de Brégaillon 83507 La Seyne sur Mer France [email protected], This paper reports on the status and design of the operational Remotely Operated Vehicle “Victor 6000”, rated for 6000m depth and of the 3000m depth Autonomous Underwater Vehicle “Aster” operated by Ifremer the French Institute for Sea Exploitation. “Victor 6000” is part of a global system build of subsystems, “scientific modules”, winch and cable, dead weight and umbilical, positioning sub-system through acoustic ultra short base line (USBL) techniques, and all the exploitation software for data and dive management. In 2005 the system was equipped with a second toolsled dedicated to high resolution mapping of the sea bed, with both acoustical and optical devices. “Aster”, the first Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) developed by IFREMER is 4.5 meters in length with a diameter of 0.69 meters. Depending on the payload its weight is between 600 and 800 kg in air, with a diving depth of 3000 meters. Its cruising speed is between 0.5 to 2.5 meters per second. The AUV is capable of carrying various payloads sections for a wide spectrum of applications. The vehicle can cruise up to a 100km range. For coastal applications this vehicle is operable by a limited crew possibly from a non-specialized vessel. Both vehicles used for oceanography as well as to continually evolve underwater systems in the achievement of new scientific challenges. .