Planet Ocean and ASV recently demonstrated autonomous launch and recovery of multiple AUVs from an ASV as the closing part of their Innovate UK & Dstl funded project.
The demonstration, in front of invited guests from the project partners, Planet Ocean, National Oceanography Centre, ASV Ltd, University of Southampton and funders Innovate UK and Dstl took place in July in the Solent.
The day marked the final activity of the two-year Innovate UK project, during which two AUVs were developed along with the launch and recovery systems which can be installed on almost any floating asset. The technology has also contributed to a University of Southampton project which has been air launching ecoSUB-µ AUVs from their SPOTTER Unmanned Air Vehicle.
ecoSUB-µ Autonomous Underwater Vehicles were launched autonomously from three launch tubes mounted on the stern of an ASV C-Worker-5 Unmanned Surface Vessel. Missions can be sent to the AUV’s whilst in their launch tubes via the C-Worker communications after which the system can operate autonomously. The C-Worker can then act as a communications hub downloading data from the ecoSUB for storage or onward transmission through high bandwidth channels before collecting the AUVs using a specially designed recovery system modelled on a Jason’s cradle.
This combination of platforms means that ecoSUB can be delivered quickly to the area of interest and deployed without the need for direct human intervention. The launch system developed by ASV, can be scaled up; the C-Worker-7 can accommodate 60 ecoSUB-µ ASVs.