Operational testing of the Battlespace Preparation AUV in the shallow water regime

The Battlespace Preparation Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (BPAUV) were developed under the sponsorship of the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to support development of underwater survey applications in the shallow water (12-91 in (40-300 feet)) and, to some extent, very shallow water (3-12 in (10-40 feet)) regions of the littoral environment. A primary function of this system is to evaluate techniques and technologies for bottom mapping/environmental survey and shallow water mine hunting. Two of these systems were built and each equipped with a Klein 5000 sidescan sonar, a CTD, a miniature fluorometer, and a tight scattering sensor; enabling the collection of the basic environmental data needed to characterize a given area. Initial field trials and a recent field demonstration provided opportunities to examine different dive profiles, evaluate navigational performance and survey capabilities, and evaluate the operator-vehicle interface. This paper includes a discussion of the BPAUV concept, some of the key issues associated with the development of the vehicle, and results generated during the testing and demonstration process.