Development of hovering-type AUV “HOBALIN” for exploring seafloor hydrothermal deposits

This paper describes the design of a newly-developed Autonomous Underwater Vehicle “HOBALIN” by National Maritime Research Institute, Japan. The major mission of the AUV is to explore hydrothermal vents by taking photographs hovering over the seafloor at an altitude of 2–5 meters, up to 2,000 meters depth. “HOBALIN” was developed as a practical AUV based on the design of the AUV “TUNA-SAND”. Therefore, rapid construction and deployment was achieved. Moreover, as the AUV is a small-sized system, it is easy to handle on any type of support ship which doesn't have any specialized facility for AUVs. Several trial dives were conducted to confirm the validity of the system in Suruga Bay. “HOBALIN” dived and traveled along the predefined survey lines and took seafloor pictures.