Development and Testing of Unmanned Semi-Submersible Vehicle

Abstract

A semi-submersible vehicle has most of its body submerged in the water, while keeping a small platform above the water surface for communication and access to atmospheric air. This vehicle has low visibility, good seaworthiness and low-wave drag in certain speed regimes, and thus, it is potentially suited for special military and civil applications. The main objective of this study is to report on construction and testing of a small, low-cost vehicle of this type, as well as initial tests in open water to characterize its power requirements and trim values at different speeds and settings and to demonstrate some functional capabilities. The vehicle was operated under remote manual control and instrumented with a variety of sensors gathering internal and environmental information. The presented description of the designed system, construction, sensors, data acquisition and control and communication systems, as well as test results, can benefit engineers interested in developing semi-submersible vehicles.