2552 results about "Underwater vehicle" patented technology

A device for controlling the position of an underwater cable comprises a body, first and second actuators, and a pair of wings. The body is stationarily mountable to the underwater cable and the first and second actuators are disposed in the body. Each wing has an axis of rotation and the wings are coupled to the first and second actuators to control the depth and the horizontal position of the underwater cable in the water.

A system for capturing and docking an active craft to a passive craft has a first docking assembly on the active craft with a first contact member and a spike projecting outwardly, a second docking assembly on the passive craft having a second contact member and a flexible net deployed over a target area with an open mesh for capturing the end of the spike of the active craft, and a motorized net drive for reeling in the net and active craft to mate with the passive craft's docking assembly. The spike has extendable tabs to allow it to become engaged with the net. The net's center is coupled to a net spool for reeling in. An alignment funnel has inclined walls to guide the net and captured spike towards the net spool. The passive craft's docking assembly includes circumferentially spaced preload wedges which are driven to lock the wedges against the contact member of the active craft. The active craft's docking assembly includes a rotary table and drive for rotating it to a predetermined angular alignment position, and mating connectors are then engaged with each other. The system may be used for docking spacecraft in zero or low-gravity environments, as well as for docking underwater vehicles, docking of ancillary craft to a mother craft in subsonic flight, in-flight refueling systems, etc.

The invention provides an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) trajectory tracking control method based on deep reinforcement learning, belonging to the field of deep reinforcement learning and intelligent control. The autonomous underwater vehicle trajectory tracking control method based on deep reinforcement learning includes the steps: defining an AUV trajectory tracking control problem; establishing a Markov decision-making process model of the AUV trajectory tracking problem; constructing a hybrid policy-evaluation network which consists of multiple policy networks and evaluation networks;and finally, solving the target policy of AUV trajectory tracking control by the constructed hybrid policy-evaluation network, for the multiple evaluation networks, evaluating the performance of eachevaluation network by defining an expected Bellman absolute error and updating only one evaluation network with the lowest performance at each time step, and for the multiple policy networks, randomly selecting one policy network at each time step and using a deterministic policy gradient to update, so that the finally learned policy is the mean value of all the policy networks. The autonomous underwater vehicle trajectory tracking control method based on deep reinforcement learning is not easy to be influenced by the bad AUV historical tracking trajectory, and has high precision.

An underwater vehicle including an axi-symmetric framing system rotatable about a centerline to define a shell of revolution having a uniformly-convex outer boundary. A narrow-beam sonar array is mounted on the axi-symmetric framing system, and includes a multitude of simultaneously-fireable and / or asynchronously-fireable transducers distributed substantially evenly over a 4π-steradian viewing angle. The present invention provides the necessary configuration for a vehicle wherein an internal algorithm can compare a “new” geometry to an “old” geometry collected earlier to construct a best fit of the new world map with the old world map and locate the vehicle within the context of the new world map. This then provides a completely independent mechanism for correction of the gradual drift in x and y that is not dependent on any form of external navigation aid.

The invention relates to a universal launching process system which can launch a plurality of diving devices and includes an A-shaped frame which can swing; the two sides of the A-shaped frame are hinged with a swing telescope oil cylinder; the upper end of the A-shaped frame is hinged with a swing frame; the system is characterized in that the lower end of the swing frame is provided with a connection seat; the middle part of the connection seat is provided with a hinging pin roll; the two sides of the connection seat are hinged with a damper which resists transverse swinging; the connection seat is connected with the guide joint of the diving device or the guide pulley of a depth sea towed system; a lifting winch and an umbilical cord guide pulley are respectively arranged above the swing frame. The launching process device can be used for launching various underwater vehicles since the guide joint of the device is replaced, thereby improving the operating factor of the voyage of a mother ship to a large extent. The system has a compact and reasonable structure and strong functions as well as is convenient to be used and operated. Besides, the state of supporting diving device is stable; under the effect of the damper which resists transverse swinging, the system has better vibration-stopping swinging-resistance effects, thereby improving the applicable sea situations of the diving devices.

PCT No. PCT / US96 / 15478 Sec. 371 Date Mar. 20, 1998 Sec. 102(e) Date Mar. 20, 1998 PCT Filed Sep. 20, 1996 PCT Pub. No. WO97 / 11395 PCT Pub. Date Mar. 27, 1997An underwater cable arrangement comprises an underwater cable capable of being towed through the water, an external device for mounting on the exterior of the cable, and a coil support device disposed inside the cable for supporting a coil. In some embodiments, the coil support device and the external device have engaging portions which co-act with each other to prevent relative rotation of the coil support device and the external device about the longitudinal axis of the cable. In some embodiments, the underwater cable has a skin and the external device is positioned around the coil support device with the skin of the underwater cable between them. The coil support device and the external device have an interference fit with respect to each other to resist relative movement to the coil support device and the external device in the longitudinal direction of the cable. In some embodiments, the external device and the coil support device are fitted to each other so as to maintain a constant angle between a longitudinal axis of the cable and a longitudinal axis of the external device.

A navigation system extends satellite navigation to divers, underwater vehicles, and surface vessels. The navigation system comprises a location reference unit and a plurality of sub-surface beacon units. The location reference unit includes a receiver to receive navigation signals from earth-orbiting satellites and / or an inertial navigation system. The location reference unit further includes control circuits to communicate with to sub-surface beacon units and to transmit location information to said sub-surface beacon units, and a transceiver to transmit location information to the sub-surface beacon units. The beacon units include control circuits to determine the location of the beacon unit based on location information received from the location reference unit, and a transceiver to receive location information from the location reference unit and to transmit location information to a guided unit to provide navigation assistance to the guided unit.

An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) for recording seismic signals during a marine seismic survey. The AUV includes a body having a flush shape; an intake water element located on the body and configured to take in water; at least one propulsion nozzle located on the body and configured to eject the water from the intake water element for actuating the AUV; at least one guidance nozzle located on the body and configured to eject water to change a traveling direction of the AUV; and a seismic payload located on the body of the AUV and configured to record seismic signals.

The invention provides an underactuated autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) adaptive trajectory tracking control device and a control method. The practical positions and the course angles of an AUV which are acquired to a measurement element (3) and reference positions and reference course angle information which are generated by a reference path generator (1) are converted through a diffeomorphism converter (6) to obtain new state variables, then the new state variables and speed and angular speed information which is acquired by a sensor (5) are transmitted to a parameter estimator (11) anda longitudinal thrust and course changing moment controller (14), and a control command is obtained through resolving to drive an actuating mechanism to adjust the longitudinal thrust and the course changing moment of the AUV. By using the underactuated AUV adaptive trajectory tracking control device, the inertial mass parameters of the AUV and hydrodynamic damping parameters are not required to be known and the goal of arriving at designated positions at designated time according to designated speed is realized. Since the AUV considered in the invention is underactuated, the energy consumption and the manufacturing cost of a system can be reduced, the weight of the system can be reduced and the propulsion efficiency can be improved.

Invention relates to a novel method of and system for ranging between an acoustic source carried on an unmanned or autonomous undersea mobile vehicle (UUV or AUV) and preferably a plurality of hydrophone receivers remotely deployed from the vehicle in predetermined patterns, generally suspended from sonobuoys equipped with above-the-sea relay radio transmitting antennas, and with time synchronization provided amongst the source and the receivers, wherein the time delay from the transmissions of the source is measured by utilizing special signal processing, enabling range to be measured in close to real time by determining the product of the sound velocity and the measured time delay, and with the process continually and periodically being repeated throughout the duration of the vehicle run. Given the range, the system may then be used to measure the acoustical properties of and / or receiver system performance in the sea or other water body, such as transmission or propagation loss TL, channel impulse response, bottom geoacoustic properties, source level, receiver sensitivity calibration, sonar operator readiness and sonar receiver performance and the like. Further, in situ measured data can be assimilated with models to enable more accurate prediction of the ocean environment than could be obtained from either individually.

Disclosed is an underwater vehicle that can be operated as a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) or as an autonomous vehicle (AUV). The underwater vehicle has a tether, which may be a fiberoptic cable, that connects the vehicle to a control console. The underwater vehicle has vertical and lateral thrusters, pitch and yaw control fins, and a propulsor, all of which may be used in an ROV-mode when the underwater vehicle is operating at slow speeds. The underwater vehicle may also be operated in a AUV-mode when operating at higher speeds. The operator may switch the vehicle between ROV-mode and AUV-mode. The underwater vehicle also has a fail-safe mode, in which the vehicle may navigate according to a pre-loaded mission plan if the tether is severed.

Apparatuses, systems, and methods for the deployment of a plurality of autonomous underwater seismic vehicles (AUVs) on or near the seabed based on acoustic communications with an underwater vehicle, such as a remotely operated vehicle. In an embodiment, the underwater vehicle is lowered from a surface vessel along with a subsea station with a plurality of AUVs. The AUVs are configured to acoustically communicate with the underwater vehicle or a second surface vessel for deployment and retrieval operations. The underwater vehicle and / or second surface vessel is configured to instruct the AUVs to leave the subsea station or underwater vehicle and to travel to their intended seabed destination. The underwater vehicle and / or second surface vessel is also configured to selectively instruct the AUVs to leave the seabed and return to a seabed location and / or a subsea station for retrieval.

A method and apparatus of operating an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) may include receiving an AUV in a receptacle of a submersible station. The AUV and the submersible station may be launched to an underwater location. The AUV may engage with the submersible station before, after or during a mission, and may return to the same or a different submersible station after part, or all, of the mission has been completed.

The invention relates to an underwater vehicle navigation system, in particular to an autonomous underwater vehicle combined navigation system. The system comprises an inertia basis navigation device and an external sensor navigation device, wherein the inertia basis navigation device comprises a Doppler velocimeter, an optical fiber gyro, a pressure sensor, an electronic compass and a depthometer; and the external sensor navigation device comprises a sonar. The combined navigation system also comprises an underwater structure optical sensor and an underwater binocular vision platform, wherein the underwater structural optical sensor comprises a forward-vision structure optical sensor positioned on the front of an outer frame of an autonomous underwater vehicle, and a downward-vision structure optical sensor positioned at the bottom of the outer frame; the underwater binocular vision platform comprises a forward-vision binocular vision platform positioned on the front of the outer frame, and a downward-vision binocular vision platform positioned at the bottom of the outer frame; the forward-vision structure optical sensor and the forward-vision binocular vision platform form a forward-vision structure optical and visual system module positioned on the front of the outer frame; and the downward-vision structure optical sensor and the downward-vision binocular vision platform form a downward-vision structure optical and visual system module positioned at the bottom of the outer frame.

The invention discloses a mixed type underwater navigation detector which comprises a bow compartment, a main chamber, an electronic control chamber and a peak tank which are coaxially and sequentially connected, wherein the bow compartment and the peak tank are communicated with an outside water area; the main chamber and the electronic control chamber are sealing chambers; two wings are symmetrically installed at a connection position of the main chamber and the electronic control chamber; a sonar height gauge and an acoustic transceiver are installed in the bow compartment; a non-contact electric energy and signal transmission assembly is sleeved outside the main chamber; a gesture adjustment system and a buoyancy adjustment system are installed in the main chamber; the buoyancy adjustment system is installed on the front portion of the main chamber; buoyancy is adjusted through movement of a piston; two sides of the piston are isolated and sealed through rolling membranes; electronic equipment for controlling an aircraft is installed in the electronic control chamber; and a propeller propelling system and a steering control system are fixed on the peak tank. The mixed type underwater navigation detector has characteristics of underwater gliders and autonomous underwater vehicles, and can be abutted with an underwater connection platform to conduct non-contact charging and data transmission, so that continuous operational capability and applied range of underwater aircrafts can be increased.

Methods and devices are provided for rescuing and recovering underwater vehicles. In one embodiment, a system is provided that includes a modular rescue device configured to attach to an underwater vehicle, such as with a tow line. The rescue device can include one or more emergency mechanisms that can be automatically and / or manually activated to aid in detecting the location of the underwater vehicle in the event of an emergency. One exemplary emergency mechanism includes a buoyancy mechanism, e.g., an expandable lift bag, configured to be inflated with a fluid to add buoyancy force to the system to pull the underwater vehicle toward a water surface. Another exemplary emergency mechanism includes a signaling mechanism configured to signal the underwater vehicle's location.

A high resolution bathymetric sidescan sonar system for measuring micro-geomorphy of the sea bottom having an underwater vehicle, an underwater electronic subsystem mounted on the underwater vehicle and containing a transmitter and a receiver, and two sonar arrays mounted symmetrically on two sides of a lower part of the underwater vehicle and being connected to the underwater electronic subsystem through a cable. Each sonar array has a transmitting linear array and three or more parallel receiving linear arrays. The parallel receiving linear arrays are arranged at equal spaces, and the space d between two adjacent parallel receiving linear arrays is λ>d≧λ / 2, in which λ is a wavelength of an acoustic wave, and an operation frequency of the parallel receiving linear arrays ranges from 30 kHz to 1200 kHz.

The invention designs an AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) three-dimensional path planning method based on reinforcement learning. The AUV three-dimensional path planning method comprises the following steps: firstly, modeling a known underwater working environment, and performing global path planning for an AUV; secondly, designing a bonus value specific to a special working environment and a planning target of the AUV, performing obstacle avoidance training on the AUV by using a Q learning method improved on the basis of a self-organizing neural network, and writing an obstacle avoidance strategy obtained by training into an internal control system of a robot; and finally receiving global path planning nodes after the robot enters into water, calculating a target heading plan by the AUV with the global path planning nodes as target nodes for planning a route, and avoiding obstacles by using the obstacle avoidance strategy in case of emergent obstacles. Through adoption of the method, the economical efficiency of the AUV routing path is ensured, and the security in case of emergent obstacles is ensured. Meanwhile, the route planning accuracy can be improved; the planning time isshortened; and the environmental adaptability of the AUV is enhanced. The method can be applied to the AUV which carriers an obstacle avoidance sonar and can implement autonomous routing.

A method, system and apparatus for viewing and imaging an underwater structure from a submersible platform, navigating along the structure and constructing a map of the structure in the forms of a photo-mosaic and a 3-D structural map. The system can include a submersible platform, at least two cameras coupled to the submersible platform, and stereovision matching logic programmed to simulate a frontal view of a target underwater structure from a fixed distance based upon an oblique view of the target underwater structure obtained by the cameras from a variable distance. The cameras can be forward or side mounted to the submersible platform and can include optical cameras, acoustical cameras or both. Preferably, the submersible platform can be a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), or an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). Finally, the system further can include absolute positioning sensors.

A method, system and apparatus for viewing and imaging an underwater structure from a submersible platform, navigating along the structure and constructing a map of the structure in the forms of a photo-mosaic and a 3-D structural map. The system can include a submersible platform, at least two cameras coupled to the submersible platform, and stereovision matching logic programmed to simulate a frontal view of a target underwater structure from a fixed distance based upon an oblique view of the target underwater structure obtained by the cameras from a variable distance. The cameras can be forward or side mounted to the submersible platform and can include optical cameras, acoustical cameras or both. Preferably, the submersible platform can be a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), or an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). Finally, the system further can include absolute positioning sensors.

The invention discloses a shaftless driven type integrated motor propeller which is arranged on the tail part of a boat body of a water vehicle or underwater vehicle and comprises a front stator, a rotor propeller and a rear stator which are serially arranged on a solid non-rotating shaft, wherein the periphery of the propeller is connected with the circumferential rim of the annular propeller, a rotor permanent magnet is embedded in the circumferential rim of the propeller, a stator winding is arranged in the inner cavity of a guide pipe, the rotor permanent magnet and the stator winding are sealed by adopting water, and a gap is arranged between the rotor permanent magnet and the stator winding to form an annular motor. The rotor permanent magnet and the stator winding as well as the guide pipe are organically combined to form a modular unit, thus the shaftless driven type integrated motor propeller can be easily installed on a water platform or underwater platform, is suitable for large-power main propelling of a water boat or underwater submergible device, and has the advantages of reasonable structure, high propelling efficiency, low hydrodynamic force radiation noise, excellent cavitation property, safety and reliability.

A multi-modal communication system and method capable of operating underwater, at an interface such as the surface of water, and in the atmosphere using a plurality of communication modes including optical, acoustic, and radio frequency communication. The nodes include underwater vehicles, divers, buoys, aerial vehicles, and shore-based operators. In one aspect, the system and method are capable of high-speed optical and long-range acoustic communication through transitioning between communication modes dependent upon signal conditions. It is another aspect to provide a system and method designed for clandestine operation that is not easily detected when in use.

The invention relates to an underwater object detection and autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) automatic collision prevention system based on mini sonar. The system comprises mini sonar, a sonar computer and a master control computer, wherein the mini sonar communicates with the sonar computer through a serial port RS485; the sonar computer is connected with the master control computer through anetwork; the master control computer is connected with an optical fiber gyro, a Doppler velocimeter, a height gauge, a dip angle sensor and a magnetic compass through a serial port RS232 respectively; and the master control computer is connected with a propeller and a rudder fin through a digital / analog (DA) channel simultaneously. The invention also provides an underwater object detection and AUV automatic collision prevention method based on mini sonar. By the system and the method, an underwater object is detected through the mini sonar, a position of an obstacle is determined, and a collision prevention instruction is given; therefore, an accurate collision prevention decision is made by the AUV.

A navigation system extends satellite navigation to divers. The navigation system comprises a surface unit and a plurality of sub-surface beacon units. The surface unit includes a receiver to receive navigation signals from earth-orbiting satellites, processing circuits to communicate with to sub-surface beacon units and to transmit location information to said sub-surface beacon units, and a sonar transmitter to transmit location information to the sub-surface beacon units. The beacon units include a processing circuits to determine the location of the beacon unit based on location information received from the surface unit, and a sonar transceiver to receive location information from the surface unit while the surface unit is floating on the surface; and to transmit location information to a diver unit to provide navigation assistance to the diver unit.

The invention discloses an underwater vehicle path planning method based on ocean current historical statistic information, comprising the following steps of: determining a sailing region, rasterizing the sailing region, generating an ocean current field in the sailing region by an ocean current historical statistic database, taking an electronic chart as an environment field to simplify and combine obstacles, islands and phytal zones in the sailing region and generate a prohibited area, storing ocean current information and prohibited area information according to grids, creating a path evaluation function, searching for an optimal path by a particle swarm optimization algorithm, outputting the optimal path and ending the path planning process. In the method provided by the invention, the ocean current field closer to a true value is generated by the ocean current historical statistic database, under the condition of taking full account of ocean current influence, the path evaluation function is designed based on safety, economical efficiency and smoothness, the particle swarm optimization algorithm is used as a path searching algorithm to perform global path planning for the underwater vehicle so as to plan an underwater vehicle sailing path which is closer to a practical sailing path.

The present invention relates to an autonomous underwater vehicle (“AUV”) for monitoring underwater fluid currents by detecting electrical currents induced by the flow of a conductive liquid through the Earth's magnetic field. More particularly, the present invention relates to the gathering of data related to underwater fluid currents and the control of AUV motion during data gathering.

Apparatuses, systems, and methods for guiding and / or positioning a plurality of seismic nodes on or near the seabed by an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) or a remotely operated vehicle (ROV). In one embodiment, an underwater vehicle is configured to monitor the deployment of cable connected to a plurality of seismic nodes, including the touchdown monitoring, positioning, and guiding of deployed autonomous seismic nodes or ocean bottom cable. The underwater vehicle may comprise a propulsion system configured to steer and propel the vehicle in a body of water, a tracking system configured to automatically track the cable and / or attached seismic nodes, and a guidance system configured to communicate with a surface vessel node data in real time or near real time for active guidance and / or positioning of the deployment cable.

A seismic survey system records seismic signals during a marine seismic survey. The system includes first and second clusters, each including a set of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs); each cluster being associated with a corresponding first or second unmanned surface vehicle (USV); and a central control unit located on a floating platform and configured to control the first and second USVs. The first USV follows its own path and the first cluster follows the first USV independent of the second USV or the second cluster.