Bluefin autonomous underwater vehicles: Programs, systems, and acoustic issues

Abstract

Bluefin Robotics Corporation has been manufacturing autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) since spinning out of the MIT Sea Grant Laboratory in 1997. Bluefin currently makes three different diameter models of AUVs; the 9, 12, and 21, all based on the same free-flooded architecture and vectored-thrust propulsion design. Auxiliary acoustic systems include acoustic abort, ranging beacons, and acoustic modems. Vehicle navigation is aided by a downward-looking acoustic Doppler velocity logger (DVL). Sonar payloads can include: bottom profiler, side-scan sonar, SAS, forward-looking imagers (DIDSON), as well as horizontal and vertical discrete hydrophone arrays. Acoustic issues that arise include: (1) transmission of sound through the ABS plastic vehicle shell; (2) the impact of vehicle self-noise on data; (3) interoperability of sonars with other acoustic emitters present on and off the vehicle; and (4) the impact of navigation on some acoustic operations like SAS. This talk will illustrate these issues with real data collected on various Bluefin vehicles.