From autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to supervised underwater vehicles (SUVs)

The past fifteen years have seen the development of a new family of unmanned underwater vehicles without umbilical. Initially, those vehicles were operated in the direct vicinity of the mother-ship. With the increase in range and reliability, users are now willing to operate without support vessels. This creates new challenges as traditional equipment cannot cope with the constraints attached to these new missions. After describing the new requirements in terms of underwater navigation and communication, the authors explain how LEGS (low Earth orbital satellites) and wideband underwater acoustics transmissions can offer new perspectives to accurately locate the vehicles and control them from an Earth based remote station, giving them the supervision capability. During the 1995-96 period, a complete prototype was developed including 4 surface relay GIB (GPS Intelligent Buoys), a local radio network, a remote control station and the vehicle electronics. Results from sea trials performed in 1996-97, in water depth varying from 10 to 300 meters, are presented and discussed. The perspectives and future developments are also described.