Propulsive and maneuvering performance of two joints biorobotic autonomous undersea vehicle SPC-III

Biorobotic autonomous undersea vehicle SPC-III, developed by Robotics institute, BeiHang University, is a mission-scale autonomous submersible vehicle. The submersible vehicle possesses a torpedo-shape rigid hull. The aft section is a two joints caudal fin thruster driven by two servo motors, which may be substituted by a screw propeller maintaining the same body shape. The accurate motion of the caudal fin is achieved by adjusting the coordinated motion of the two servo motors. Experiments have been conducted to measure power consumption and maneuverability of caudal fin thruster and screw propeller under different speeds. Using caudal fin propulsion and carrying Water Quality Multiprobes, the vehicle has successfully performed a 49-km probe experiment and collected concentration distributing data on blue-green algae in the water of Taihu Lake.