Design and development of SHAD - a Small Hovering AUV with Differential actuation

This paper presents the design and development of a new Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). SHAD, which stands for Small Hovering AUV with Differential actuation, is a torpedo shaped vehicle that was conceptually designed to navigate in challenging volumes. It brings to the scene of submarine robotics a different model and new design of AUV. The small size, the light weight and the high maneuverability of this AUV were among the most important features that can make the SHAD an option to applications where other models have difficulties. This paper details the design and the development of SHAD and presents experimental results from sensors and actuators testing as well as vehicle navigation.