Low Cost Structural Morphing AUV for Long-term Water Column Exploration and Data-harvesting

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) have been an alternative option for exploring water column or other subsea operation in recent years. However, the cost of the operation may still be a consideration for the industry even the technology exists. This paper presents a novel design of a low cost AUV system with morphing structure to address the need of long-term exploration of water column. With the onboard CTD, sensors and IMU, which helps keep track of the data harvested from the mission that is stored in microSD card for further research. The embedded system also enables a wireless control and communication from the operator.