Biointeractive Autonomous Underwater Vehicle “BA-1”

This paper describes the design of a biointeractive AUV that has abilities to monitor schools of fish interactively. In the very large ocean it is very difficult to understand the habits of a swimming fish because the visibility of camera and range of sonar are limited while they swim widely. It is also hard to apply bio-logging techniques to fish because loggers are still large and heavy for them, furthermore, retrieving the data is tough. The biointeractive AUV can stay in the environment where fish is living and swim together with them to monitor their life style. The vehicle has capabilities to give stimulus to fish to observe their behavior caused by the stimulation. Future plan of the biointeractive AUV is to take a role of monitoring the environment spatially and accurately, feeding the fish, monitoring their growth and guiding them in a pen-free offshore aquaculture system. A first model of the biointeractive AUV “BA-1” has launched in early 2009. The length of the vehicle is 3m and the weight in air is about 430kg. The depth rating of the vehicle is 1,000m. It has both hovering and cruising capabilities for operations in test tanks, aquaculture pens and oceans. The design of the biointeractive AUV BA-1 is described with the test results in a test tank and the result of the interaction test with fish in an aquaculture pen.