Unmanned Maritime Vehicles and Submersibles

Unmanned Maritime Vehicles and Submersibles

Chair: William Kirkwood (kiwi@mbari.org)

Co-Chair (Asia-Pacific): Hayato Kondo  (hkondo@ieee.org)

Co-Chair: Dr. Hanu Singh (hsingh@whoi.edu)

Technical Scope: Autonomous Underwater Vehicles are unoccupied but may be under completely autonomous control or may have periodic communications with a controller at the surface by radio or underwater through acoustic communication.  Data may be acquired by the AUV for internal storage, for internal analysis and programmed response, or may be returned to the controller in real-time or pseudo real-time.  Propulsion, power, materials, sensors, navigation, and operational constraints are issues with AUVs.  When a subsurface vehicle is occupied it is a submersible and a new set of constraints is critical such as life support, ports for viewing and penetrators for mechanical arms or electrical control of experiments.