Towards environmental monitoring with the Autosub autonomous underwater vehicle

In this paper we describe some of the desirable characteristics of an autonomous underwater vehicle capable of undertaking environmental surveys in the ocean. Several of these characteristics are incorporated in the 7 m long Autosub-1 vehicle which has completed over 120 missions to date in UK and US waters. We review some of the key technological innovations used within Autosub-1 and describe some results from a 110 km survey off the coast of Florida in December 1997. While the survey demonstrated many of the advantages of using an AUV for environmental monitoring the paper concludes with a discussion of technical and procedural areas that still require attention before the use of AUVs can be considered routine