Longterm deployment – does AUV really need to surface
Present-day offshore operations rely almost exclusively on remotely operated vehicles deployed from support vessels. However, resident autonomous robotic systems that are docked and ready to operate at or near the offshore site, or towed docking units allowing charging and data transfer in motion, have potential to become a game changer in offshore exploration and exploitation. The clear benefits are much shorter response time and significant reduction of cost and greenhouse gas emissions as support vessels are almost not needed. Nevertheless, there are still some challenges to be addressed before the concept becomes state-of-the-art. This talk will give an insight into NTNU’s AURLab relevant results from various national and EU projects and touch upon some of these challenges such as subsea docking, residency, communication and USV-AUV integration. The talk will also present subsea part of the full scale OceanLab research infrastructure developed for remote experimentation, validation, and operation of underwater vehicles/technology from shoreside control room or any remote location.