The general design of a seafloor surveying AUV system

Owing to the exceptional ability of obtaining maximum data quality by bringing advanced payload sensors close to the seafloor, AUVs have been widely applied to seafloor survey task in recent years. Tianjin University developed a seafloor mapping AUV in 2010. In this paper, the energy consumption and endurance of the seafloor mapping AUV are predicted. To optimize the maneuverability at the early design stage, the hydrodynamic characteristics of the vehicle are calculated and evaluated. A propeller-gear-motor combination thruster is developed to ensure maneuverability and realize high resolution trajectory tracing at a low speed. An aided inertial navigation system integrating a number of surface and subsea navigation sensors is mounted on the vehicle to achieve better surveying data quality. Several trials were conducted and the general design of the whole system is verified.