Development of an underwater glider for virtual mooring and its buoyancy engine

This paper describes the present status of the development of the underwater glider for virtual mooring. It will be able to stay in a designated area for more than one year, moving between the sea surface and the seafloor up to 2,100 m in depth, and monitor the sea environment. It will be able to sleep on the seafloor or while drifting in water to extend the monitoring duration. The first sea-test was conducted in March 2012. In 2013, a new small buoyancy engine was developed and then substituted for the existing one. In recent sea-tests, we evaluated its pitching and heading control performance.