Project “V-FIDES”: An innovative, multi purpose, autonomous underwater platform

The proposed work aims to describe the “V-FIDES” project, focused on developing a new generation of agile, over-actuated, long endurance Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, for deep underwater exploration, operation and environmental monitoring. The project, co-funded by Tuscany Region (Italy), has been developed by a team lead by WASS S.p.A. (Whitehead Sistemi Subacquei, Livorno), with the participation of several partners including Kayser Italia S.r.l., Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, University of Pisa and other SMEs in the Tuscany area. This paper gives an overview of the developed general architecture of the vehicle and obtained results during the project.