Autonomous underwater vehicle docking

Abstract

This chapter describes the practical challenges of docking autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) in the ocean environment and approaches undertaken to create working docking systems. Early docking work was motivated by the desire to operate AUVs for multiple sorties without recovery or human servicing of the AUV. To accomplish this, the docking system provides a method for the AUV to find the dock, to physically attach, to recharge AUV batteries, to establish a communication link, to wait in a low power state for a new mission, and to undock. A variety of homing methods, dock configurations, power transfer approaches, and communications links have been employed to achieve these respective needs, and are described herein. While the original applications driving docking were oceanographic in nature, present interest is broader, driven by commercial and military applications as well. Docking has been demonstrated, but has not been deployed as an operational capability, in part because docking requires an infrastructure for the dock that provides physical mounting, a source of power, and communication connectivity. The advent of cabled and mooring-based observatories, and subsea infrastructure for oil and gas production, create a foundation supporting docking system deployment. Consequently, the prospects for operational docking systems seem promising.