UUVs, also known as Unmanned Undersea Vehicles, are vehicles that are capable of operating while submerged underwater without the need for a human to be physically occupying the vehicle.
A lot of advanced countries are spurring on the development and commercialization of UUVs. The purpose of UUVs is generally classified into intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), mine countermeasure (MCM), and anti-submarine warfare (ASW).
UUVs—submersible unmanned vehicles—are divided into two categories: remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs).
ROVs are linked and controlled by a person or crew on either land or neighboring craft via a tether that houses energy and communication cables and a related tether management system, as well as built-in sensors for video (camera and lights), thrusters, a flotation pack, sonar and other instruments.
ROVs are often used in situations where diving by humans is either impractical or dangerous such as working in deep water or investigating submerged hazards.
AUVs, on the other hand, are programmable, robotic vehicles that, depending on their design, can drift, drive, or glide through the ocean without real-time control by human operators. They can be programmed to collect data along a predetermined route, and some are able to make decisions and potentially change their mission parameters according to the received data.
Some AUVs communicate with operators periodically or continuously through satellite signals or underwater acoustic beacons to permit some level of control.
Researchers drop an AUV in the ocean and pick it up at a pre-selected position, where the data can be downloaded and processed. AUVs are used extensively for surveying by the oil and gas industry and in scientific research. They are also used for naval defense applications such as mine detection, payload delivery and surveillance.
Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs)
