Autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) - SIRIUS

The University of Sydney’s Australian Centre for Field Robotics (ACFR) is leading the IMOS AUV Facility and has an ocean going Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) called Sirius capable of undertaking high resolution survey work (see Figure 1). This platform is a modified version of a mid-size robotic vehicle called Seabed built at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The submersible is equipped with a full suite of oceanographic instruments, including a high resolution stereo camera pair and strobes, a multibeam sonar, depth and conductivity/temperature sensors, Doppler Velocity Log (DVL) including a compass with integrated roll and pitch sensors, Ultra Short Baseline Acoustic Positioning System (USBL) and forward looking obstacle avoidance sonar. As part of IMOS, the vehicle will be enhanced with a Wetlabs Eco Puck, measuring chlorophyll-a, CDOM and scattering (red), and an Aanderaa Optode, measuring dissolved oxygen concentrations. Requests for additional sensor payloads will be considered and may be supported with IMOS funds allocated for sensor acquisition.

As part of the establishment of the AUV Facility, IMOS will support deployment of the Sirius AUV which will be made available to scientists on a competitive basis in order to assist marine projects in Australia. IMOS will cover the costs of AUV calibration, preparation, insurance, transport within Australia, and access to and storage of the data. Ship-time for the deployment, tracking and recovery of the AUV are the responsibility of the local node requesting the deployment. The use of the AUV must comply with IMOS’ objective to “offer open access to data arising from research infrastructure provided through the IMOS to the national and international marine research communities”.

• Stefan Williams

• Oscar Pizarro
• Ian Mahon
• Paul Rigby
• Matthew Johnson-Roberson
• Stephen Barkby
• Ritesh Lal

2007 Sept - 3 week cruise on the Great Barrier Reef surveying drowned shelf edge reefs with colleagues from JCU

2007 Aug - 2 days in Jervis Bay preparing for GBR cruise

2007 May - 2 week cruise to Ningaloo with the Australian Institute for Marine Sciences

2007 Jan - 3 days in Jervis Bay preparing for Ningaloo cruise

Our current research activities focus on four main themes. These
include

• Improved navigation generating high-resolution, self-consistent, geo-referenced optical/acoustic oceanfloor representations (SLAM)
• Automated interpretation (novelty measures, classification)
• Efficient surveys
• Platforms

• Start date -
• End date - ongoing

• Further information can be found under Projects at The ARC Centre of Excellence for Autonomous Systems (CAS].

• 'Design of an unmanned underwater vehicle for reef surveying'
• 'A terrain aided tracking algorithm for marine systems'

• AIMS
• ARC
• BAe Systems' Advanced Technology Centre
• DSTO
• NCRIS IMOS
• National Geographic

• Research - Perception
• Project - Subsea
• Active - yes