The Evolution of AUV Power Systems

G. T. Reader, Dean of Engineering J. Potter, Director CHT J. G . Hawley, Reader in

University of Windsor Alberta Research Council Thermodynamics
401 Sunset Avenue Edmonton, Alberta, T6N I E4. Canada University of Bath
Windsor, Ontario, N9B 3P4,Canada potter@[Link] Bath, BA2 7AY, UK
greader@[Link] [Link]

AbsYracI - The heritage of the A W and associated power vehicle are known as the 'hotel load'. The subsystems are
system can be traced hack to the 19Ih century clockwork normally integrated and packaged within the vehicle structure
torpedo. Today power systems based on a multitude of concepts in a manner such as shown in Fig.2.
from closed-cycle heat engines to solar charged batteries are
available. This evolution of AUV power systems has been
enhanced by the growing inrolvement of the non-military
undenvater science and engineering sectors since the 1960s.
However with the present trend of using A W s mainly in
hydrographic survey tasks, especially in the deep oceans,
manufacturers are choosing reliable and affordable battery
systems in preference to the many potentially high performance *r-e
El.,.-
iwa <;c,,,-*(iam
1 cn*lrrii.
L a cxnnrr -*>U ,he'
exotic power systems which could provide true autonomy to the
vehicles. In this paper the authors trace the evolution of AUV
power systems and attempt to provide some insights into this Fig. 2. Typical AUV Sub System Packaging
evolution.
An AUV, if it is to be true to its description must have the
1. INTRODUCTION capability of operating without the need for external support
in order to cany out its mission. This may seem an obvious
Undenvater vehicle propulsion is achieved through the statement but as yet there is no precise definition, or at least
conversion, transmission and utilization of energy in a no universally accepted definition, of exactly what is an
sequence of events that includes the development of power in AUV. {Similar problems of definition have long existed with
a prime mover, its transmission to the propulsive device, the submarines and submersibles.) Nevertheless, it would he
development of thrust on the working surfaces of the useful to have a working definition of exactly what is an
propulsive device and the transmission of thrust to the AUV as this helps define the scope and boundaries of the
vehicle's structure in such a way as to move the vessel discussions.
through the water. In addition for an 'Autonomous' Blidberg, [I] in his paper on the development of AUVs
Underwater Vehicle (AUV) propulsion system, other encountered a similar need and used a categorizing scheme
subsystems are required such as an energy source for the where undenvater vehicles are classed as either manned or
prime mover, and sinks which receive the waste products and unmanned and the latter are further categorized into three
energy not utilized by the system. Fig. 1 shows the units used sub-classes, towed submersibles, tethered Remotely Operated
in a generic system for the development and transmission of Vehicles (ROV) and Unmanned Untethered Vehicles (UUV).
propulsive power in an underwater vehicle. The UUV is considered by Blidherg to be a vehicle which

-
while having its own onboard power is controlled by a remote
operator via some form of communications link whereas an
AUV controls itself on a pre-defined mission and requires no
Conucrior Coditioner communication during its mission, Fig. 3.

Undenv ter Vehicles

T
Maruicd

Toil cd
Fig. 1. Power System Components

To cany out its mission the vehicle must also c a m

sufficient energy and provide sufficient power to operate the Tethered Autonomous
various elcments of the payload which could include sonar ROVs \ehicler(AUV)
for navigation and mapping, data transmission and reception,
cameras, oceanographic sensors and so on. Thc non- Fig. 3. Underwater Vehicle Classification Scheme
propulsive power needs of the various systems carried by the

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 ~

The classification scheme depicted in Fig. 3 is seemingly

straightforward hut the use of different terminologies and
definitions in both the civilian and military communities has
given rise to a multitude of acronyms and on occasion
inadvertent interchangeability of terms. The US Navy use the
term UUV to encompass both ROVs and AUVs [I] whereas
many involved in the early commercial and scientific
development of unmanned underwater vehicles employed the
term AUV. Schuhak and Scott [2] define AUVs in terms of
comparative size referring to them as small UUVs. Perhaps Fig. 4. The MlT Robot Tuna
the problem is with the application of the term ‘autonomous’?
According to the dictionary the word means ‘self- The most famous early efforts to use underwater craft for
goveming’ or ‘freedom of the will’. If these characteristics naval purposes was during the American War of
were to he strictly applied there would he few underwater lndependence when Bushnell’s human-powered submarine
vehicles that could he classified as AUVs. Klevehrant and the Turtle armed with a clockwork mine was used in an
Lindstrom [3] in grappling with the definition issue suggested attack in New York harbor on the 50-gun British warship,
the definition “AiJionomoifs io some exieni.” The HMS Eagle. The operational failure of Turtle lead to a
authoritative publication ‘Remotely Operated Vehicles of the realization that if underwater naval vessels were to be
World’ [4], now in its fifth edition appears to use the effective they required a suitable weapon 171. It was in the
search for such weapons that modem AUVs and their
Klevebrant and Lindstrom approach for vehicle classification.
The authors have adopted the same stratagem of classification associated power systems have their origins.
for the scope of this paper with the codicil that the power Despite the efforts of Praetorius and Bushel1 and others,
system of the vehicle is independent of the surface amongst many of the senior ranking officers of the leading
environment during its mission except in the case of the naval powers of the lX‘h and early 19Ih centuries the concept
of the underwater warship and weapon was rarely greeted
DolphiniDorado vehicles manufactured by ISE Research
Ltd., of British Columbia, Canada [ 5 ] . The development of with enthusiasm. Underwater vehicle and weapon
these particular vehicles has played a pivotal role in AUV developments during this period were usually the result of the
technology advances and therefore should not he excluded efforts of private individuals and idiosyncratically these
because of the vagaries of equivocal definitions. inventors enjoyed more acceptance and success outside of
their country of origin.
11. EARLY DEVELOPMENTS The early adventures and often disasters. with Underwater
vehicles although gradually improving the state of knowledge
The history of mankind’s efforts to explore and exploit the about the design requirements of such vessels and
underwater environment spans three millennium [6]. demonstrating the promise of the efficacy of underwater
Between the 14‘h and 1XIh century there are many detailed warfare did not lead to any significant developments in.
documents describing conceptual and in some cases, actual, underwater power systems. Then, as now, advances in power
powered underwater craft, the energy source being human systems technology were largely l e e to other fields and
muscle. One notable attempt to put underwater technology to usually when such systems showed some engineering
naval use was in 1772 when the Chief Engineer of the maturity anempts were made to modify them for use in
German Military Academy, J . Chr. Praetorius, was underwater vehicles.
commissioned to build a narrow ‘diving boat’ [8]. By the 191h century reciprocating steam and hot-air
Apparently, Praetorius built a 10 metre vessel which had a engines had already been developed and the foundations of
fish profile and when submerged it was to be powered by a internal combustion engine development had been established
‘fish-tail’ and armed with a falconet - a small type of cannon. by the work of Otto, Benz and Daimler. The German
This ‘diving-boat’ was to he part of the Count Schaumhurg- designer, William Bauer, in 1858 proposed a submarine of
Lippe’s Lake Steinhuder Fleet. The boat was constructed but over 400 tonnes displacement using an IC engine of about
it is not known if it actually operated underwater [XI. 170 kW output when submerged to give the vehicle a speed
Although once again this was to he a muscle-powered of 4.12-4.62 ds (8-9 knots)[8]. Bauer also suggested using
manned undenvater vehicle the idea of using a fish-like a combustion mixture of kerosene and oxygen. The latter
profile and a propulsion system mimicking that of a fish was was to he obtained underwater from the decomposition of
to remerge in AUV research in the U.S.A. and Japan some manganese dioxide. Bauer was the first researcher, on record
two centuries later e.g., [9,10] and Fig. 4. at least, to realize that oxidant selection underwater was to he
The year 1172 was also noteworthy in underwater vehicle a challenging issue, a situation that still exists [e.g., 121
history, in that an Englishman named Day was killed when However, without doubt, the major technical breakthrough
his submarine boat was crushed by water pressure after he not only in AUV design hut also AUV power systems was
had accepted a wager to take his vessel to the bottom of the development of the Whitehead’s torpedo [13], Fig. 5 .
Plymouth (UK) harbor. He was arguably the first victim of a Robert Whitehead, an Englishman who found fame and
submarine accident [I I]. fortune as a marine engineer in continental Europe, was
introduced to the concept of what is now called a torpedo by

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an Austrian naval officer, Commander Giovanni de Luppis This pot was located between the compressed gas reservoir
who had been trying to develop around 1860 the Der and the engine and a hydrocarbon or alcohol fuel - usually
Kiistenbrander (literally - the coastal fireship) without a great kerosene - was combusted. This system was so successful
deal of success [13]. One of the major problems was the that it was used in torpedoes of the Second World War, Fig.
method of propulsion and the power source. Although the 6.
device had progressed from the direct human-muscle system
it was still in a way human powered since it used a
mechanical clockwork mechanism. Whitehead not only
improved the overall Luppis design so that the ‘torpedo’
could operate fully submerged but used radial engines
powered by compressed air. This form of propulsion and
Fig. 6. US Navy WWll Torpedo [I41
energy source was to become the standard system for many
years.
By the start of the 1914-1918 War, the birthright of many
of the propulsion and power systems still being developed
today, including:

.. Dynamic Ncat Converters

BattetyElectric
Fig. 5. Early Whitehead Torpedo

Some torpedo designers eventually replaced the radial

.
9 Expanded Gas ( Cokd and Heated)
Rocket-Jets

engines with turbines hut all were, by and large, coldengines had been established. Moreover, not only had the selection of
with a compressed gas such as air, carbonic acid gas being the ‘fish’-like profile provided good hydrodynamic
expanded via a radial or turbine engine. By the start of the characteristics hut individuals such as Whitehead and Froude
20Ih century hydrogen peroxide turbines has also been full appreciated the need for such profiling and the need for
developed which proved to be the forerunners of the British feedback controls to improve vehicle performance and thus
torpedoes of the mid 20th century and the modem day make efficient use of the onboard energy supply 1131. AS
Swedish torpedoes. Corell [I61 stated in 1987 when reviewing the state-of-the-art
Although in the developments from the time of Whitehead papers presented at the Sth International Symposium on
to the Great War of 1914-1918, the Whitehead torpedo power Unmanned Untethered Submersible Technology (which
and propulsion systems were not bettered many innovative attracted 330 attendees, a 20-fold increase over 1980),
concepts were tested with some success especially the Howell Whitehead, as early as the mid-1800s had been using control
torpedoes which used the stored energy of a spun flywheel as function monitoring. The point being that although
the energy source. One of Howell’s designs achieved speeds significant advances in control and autonomy were manifest
up to a maximum of 15.4 m l s {30 knots) and were the in the many research papers presented the advent of many of
standard torpedo of the U S . Navy between 1890 and 1900 the principles described had occurred well over a century ago.
[13, 141. During the period from 1870 to the Russian-
Japanese War, steam and rocket propulsion was experimented 111. THE EXCLUSIVELY MILITARY ERA 1914 -1965
with both in the USA and Britain. In the former case a
container would be charged with superheated water, under Exactly which year the military era of AUV development
pressure, which generated steam as the valve leading to the started and the ‘exclusively’ ended is a matter of opinion.
engine was opened [14]. The famous Swedish-American However, especially for the sake of discussion the period
engineer Ericsson experimented with electric propulsion 1914-1965 seems to be reasonably distinctive. There is no
whereby a motor would be energized by lead-acid doubt that as soon as the naval powers began to fully
accumulators. The noted entrepreneur of the same period appreciate the awesome power of the submarine during the
Nordenfelt also developed electric torpedoes as well as a build-up to the 1914-1918 War, that underwater vehicular
number of different submarines [15]. technology developments and the subsea environment
By luck as much as judgment it was found that if the became, with few exceptions, the sole jurisdiction of the
compressed gas for the expansion engines was warmed by the military. The only true form of the UUViAUV during this
surrounding seawater significant power system performance era was the torpedo which in some cases were also were
resulted. To some extent this was a fortuitous observation manned either for clandestine [I71 or ‘kamikaze’ type
since during the gas expansion frosting of the engine, radial operations.
or turbine, was a common operational problem. Heating The development of underwater power systems continued
systems such as the ‘Elswick‘ heaters were developed to pre- during the 1914-1918 War and throughout the inter-war
warm the compressed gases (131 but it was the introduction years. For manned operational naval submarines a two-unit
of the ‘combustion’ pot by the Bliss Leavitt company in 1904 power system configuration became the universal standard
- with further improvements in 1910 - which greatly until the mid-1950s. The units were separate and different,
improved the performance of the Whiteheads system [14]. one being used for surface propulsion and the other for
underwater propulsion. On the surface the diesel engine was

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 the heat engine of choice although attempts were made at of submarines that were to be much faster underwater than on
using steam propulsion [ 181. Underwater the battery-electric the surface. The advent of the first fully functional nuclear-
motor arrangement using the ubiquitous lead-acid system powered submarine the USS Naurilus [22] severely curtailed
reigned supreme. The essential features of the two-system for almost thirty years any further intemational attempts to
diesel-electric approach the remained the same throughout develop non-nuclear underwater power systems for naval
this era [ 19,201 and survive up to the present day. The diesel- submarines. Ironically, the Nautilus was slower than some of
electric powered or conventional submarine is still the most the advanced hut largely experimental non-nuclear
populous. Obviously since 1913/14 there have been many submarines of the time but she had the ability to maintain
performance and operational improvements both to the diesel high underwater speeds several orders of magnitude longer
engine and the battery-electric motor systems. than her rivals.
The dominant performance parameter for underwater There were some developments with torpedo power
vehicles until the 1940s was surface speed. By the end of the systems in the search for higher speeds. First in the UK and
first decade of the 20Ih century navies had started to then in Sweden the hydrogen peroxide turbine systems
appreciate the offensive capabilities of the submarine and became operational and a number of closed cycle heat engine
expanded its role in their order-of-battle beyond the coastal systems paralleling the pre-1955 submarine power systems
defense applications hitherto envisaged. Initially, the developments were investigated. A new player on the scene
submarine was intended to operate as part of a battle-fleet but was the Stirling Engine [23], originally patented in 1815, hut
this modus operandi was quickly abandoned in favour of redeveloped by the Dutch Company NV Philips of Eindhoven
independent action. In either case the submarine was in the 1930s. For many years, after early interest from the
required to be faster when on the surface in order to keep up Ford Motor company, the giant US company, General
with the rest of the fleet or to outrun a hostile surface warship Motors, in conjunction with NV Philips developed a Stirling
or convoy escort. Indeed the smooth fish-like profiles used engine powered underwater power system for a heavyweight
by the great early designers such as [Link] soon torpedo.
disappeared in a clutter of hull and deck appendages By the start of the 1960s an extensive array of undenvater
including increasingly larger guns. power systems had been either quite thoroughly investigated
As naval tactics changed and as submarine detection or developed for naval applications. However, most were
began to rapidly improve the need for greater submerged further developments of ideas whose heritage was almost
endurance and speed became necessary. Hull forms returned fifty and in some cases over a hundred years old. The
to the cleaner lines of earlier years and the snorkel was underwater Stirling Engine and specialized liquid
adopted to enable air to be drawn into the vessel whilst monopropellant and metallic fuels were the only new
submerged to allow the diesel engine to be operated for developments which attracted more than cursory attention.
battery charging purposes. The naval torpedo remained the only AUV in use but the
Nevertheless, improvements in vehicle hydrodynamics discovery of offshore liquid and gaseous hydrocarbon
and battery technology alone could not enable submarines to deposits was soon to bring about the start of a revolution in
operate at high speeds (then 7.7-9.3 d s (15-18 knots)) for underwater vehicle engineering [24].
more than a few tens of minutes. Efforts were made to
improve this limitation especially by the German Navy in the 1V. WEALTH FROM THE OCEANS
1930s and early 1940s. The focus of the developments were
closed-cycle heat engines, both reciprocating and rotary. The Until the 1960s the subsea environment or "inner space"
'
latter involved the hydrogen peroxide Walter turbine system. was almost exclusively used by the military, with the naval
In both cases the application was for manned underwater submarine and the torpedo proving their combat effectiveness
vehicles. These developments achieved some notable in two world wars. Even today the submarine is probably the
technical successes but the vehicles never entered operational greatest maritime asset and threat a nation can possess.
service [8]. Patents on such systems were lodged as early as However, over the last forty years the commercial and
1906 [I91 and the German Navy developed a working system scientific communities have also started to explore and
before the 1914-18 War only to cancel it when on the point of exploit the deep oceans. In the commercial field, with many
success due to a fatal accident involving a non-diesel fuelled non-renewable land-based resources, not just hydrocarbons,
version. becoming depleted, the search for alternative sources of raw
Although a variety of underwater vehicles, such as midget materials is intensifying. This situation lead by the start of
submarines, two-man underwater chariots and even the penultimate decade of the 20Ih century to the involvement
underwater canoes were developed for 'special forces' in the of a number of countries, especially those of the European
wars o f the first part of the 20Ih century the only unmanned Community, in the heavily funded "Wealthfrom the Oceans "
untethered vehicles were still the torpedoes. The Japanese projects. In the scientific community, attention began to
Navy made extensive use of heat engines in their focus on developing a greater understanding of the ocean's
technologically advanced torpedoes whilst the German Navy fragile ecosystems [ 2 5 ] , whilst all users of the oceans were
developed similarly advanced electric torpedoes. seeking to obtain better hydrographic and mapping data .
After the end of the 1939-45 War using in many cases With the advent of the offshore hydrocarbon industry
captured technology the British, Soviet [21] and especially there was a growing realization that the safety hazards and
the US Navies [20] embarked on the intensive development the financial costs associated with using human intervention

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 ~

systems in the often hostile, and always challenging development and in some instances commercialization. The
underwater environment, were daunting. Moreover, as the problem had become which one to choose and which one was
need or desire to operate in ever deeper waters and under the the best [29]?
ice-caps increased, alternatives to manned underwater
vehicles were also sought. Thus, in the 1970s and 1980s with TABLE I
the growing number of identified potential military, EXAMPLES OF A U V c . 1960-1979
commercial and scientific missions the development of many YEAR VEHICLE COUNTRY/ POWERSYSTEM
varieties of unmanned underwater vehicles were instigated DEVELOPER
[26,27]. 1963 SPURVI usAI Electric (Silver-
At first the type of vehicle preferred especially in the oil University of Zinc Battery)..
and gas fields of the European North Sea was the remotely 1 WashinGon I
controlled or Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). These 1972 I UARS 1 USA1 / Electric (Silver-
vehicles were supplied with power and control functions via I I I Universitvof 1 Zinc Batten.)., 1
an umbilical cable or tether attached to a surface vessel or Washington
installation. By the end of the 1980s a great deal of operating 1973 SPURV2 USA/ Electric (Silver-
experience had been gained and reported on ROV operations University of Zinc Battery
and technology. The single most restrictive item in terms of Washington
both improving operational effectiveness and reducing costs 1975 SKAT USSR NK
of ROVs was found to be the inherent need for the use of an 1977 Unnamed Japan (JMSTC) NK
umbilical cable or tether [28]. The ideal solution was 1979 EAVE- USAI Electric
considered to be the Autonomous ROV and to achieve this 111 University of (Lead-Acid)
seven technology development areas were identified in the New Hampshire
technical literature as requiring attention [e.g., 281:

.. Energy/Power Source TABLE 2

.- Propulsion Systems
Command, Control Telemetry
NavigationiObstacle Avoidance
EXAMPLES OF AUVs DEVELOPED 1988-1991

. ToolingiManipulators
Communications
Data Ioggingivisual recognition

Several other similar lists were suggested some including

such areas as hull shapes and materials, launch and recovery
systems and so on. In all the lists power and energy systems
were identified but it was invariably decided that
developments in these areas would come largely from outside
the oceanic and underwater research and development
communities.
Nevertheless some AUV development did take place in
the 1960s although there is a dearth of open literature on the
subject [l]. Moreover, notwithstanding the outcomes of the V. RECENT TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS
many ROV experiences [e.g., 281 the potential of the AUV
was explored in the 1970s with a handful of vehicles being In the most recent edition of the most comprehensive
developed as test-beds by US and Scottish Universities and catalogue [4] of ROVs and AUVs, there are some forty-five
Japanese, Soviet and US government agencies [29,30], as different (depending upon interpretation) types Of AUV
illustrated in Table 1. commercially available or in the prototype testing phase such
The advent of advanced microprocessors and a bottom crawling AUV. Of these over 84 per cent have
accompanying software and hardware architecture provided operational or maximum diving depths of 200 metres or
the AUV community with the opportunity for significant more, almost half have diving depths of 500 memes or more
technology leaps in the two decades starting 1980. the ability and 1 1 per cent are designed for operational depths down to
to provide rudimentary intelligence together with 6000 metres. The use of dynamic heat convertors helow 200
sophisticated control and navigational systems hasrened the metres becomes problematic because of the need to expel the
development of many times of AUVs as the example list in exhaust gases from the vehicle against the prevailing back-
Table 2 demonstratcs. The specifications of the US DARPA pressures. Although such operations are technically possible
AUV vehicle. high speed and long endurance, spurred a the amount of power required to force the gases into the
flurry of activity especially of power systems development surrounding water becomes excessive. Not surprisingly the
[31,321. By the start of the 21" century a wide range of power system of choice has remained the secondary hattery-
underwater power systems, Fig 7., were in various stages of

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 electric motor combination especially for the deep diving non-military communities. The former is also relying
AUVs. increasingly of AUVs for countennine warfare - bunting,
detection, identification and neutralization . Indeed if the
PAP#5 mine-hunting vehicle , is accepted to be an AUV then
.. ~

.,
.....
.
. .~ it is the most successful AUV with over 450 already
.. n
h.r* .
.. I . . ~ produced [4]. In the majority of hydrographic applications
~~ ..
... . .. ....
then the AUV is a self-propelled, autonomous side-scan
sonar.

VI. THE FUTURE

The number of institutions, including universities, that are

actively involved in underwater technology research has
stabilized over the last decade . Of the important technology
areas identified as requirements for the success of AUV
development the trend for these institutions other than
example such as FCT has been to concentrate, by choice, on
the technology areas other than power systems. This has
been a common trait in underwater vehicle development since
the advent of the nuclear-powered submarine [1,29].
The commercial and military use of AUVs and in some
cases groups of AUVs in concert has begun and truly
commercial products are now available. Many of the power
systems technologies are reaching technical maturity. The
Stirling Engine has proved itself in operational sea service for
close to two decades with the Royal Swedish Navy and the
Fig. 7. Underwater Power System Candidates closed-cycle diesel and fuel cell systems have undergone
extensive testing. Nevertheless the battery-electric system
In the selection of batteries, the lead-acid type remains whose use was first attempted in the mid 19Ih century for a
popular but by no means dominates the market, Fig 8. The torpedo is still the power system of choice.
nickel-cadmium and the more expensive silver-zinc batteries With the advanced electronic and navigational
are frequently used and the lithium primary based batteries technologies now available it can be said that AUVs in terms
are becoming more popular. Fuel cells and semi-cells of the Klevebrant and Lindstrom [3] definition are now
systems are also being tested with one Canadian company, autonomous to a greater extent than ever before but the key to
Fuel Cell Technologies (FCT) Ltd., developing an aluminum- full autonomy is still arguably the onboard energy and power
oxygen cells in the range 50 W to 5 kW specifically for systems. Whilst battery systems have to be used there will
underwater applications [33]. almost always be a limit to the scope of a mission unless
--
some onboard in situ hatterv chareine is available. Nuclear
isotope and reactor systems could be used in an AUV to
I
i Drovide enerev -, and Dower autonomy but is unlikelv to
4 Notmown happen not least because of the costs involved. Similarly fuel
Other Batteries cells and semi-cells can extend the range of most banery
6 2 powered AUVs by at least a factor of three and in some
i:.,.,. FueVSemi Cell
instances an order of magnitude [34]. Once again cost is the
Stirling Engine
major obstacle.
Sodium Sulphur
..... However, in the past few years two novel power systems
: i ABDiesel
-..
: , : :>
I...A
~~

CCDiesei
. '
i
L ~ ~ l -
have been Drooosed wine renewable enerev -, sources. The
first the idiosyncratic Solar powered AUV [34], the second
2j.j Nickel-Cadmium
i the more futuristic 'thermocline' engine [35]. With respect to
@
@
Lithium
Lead-Add : j
i
i
~~+......
!
j
~~i
j
~,
the conceot
~~

~~r nf in situ batterv-chareine.

~~~~
~, ~ ~ in
~~~v the
I ~ ~

1990s details about the Solar powered AUV concept began to

.
latter Dart of the

@ Silver-Zinc 0 5 75 appear in the technical literature . The concept is to attach

Number of Vehicles solar panels to the vehicle which can he used to recharge
onboard batteries. Fie. 9. The svstem is now under ioint
Fig. 8. Survey of Current AUV Power Systems development by' th;e AUSl and Institute of Marine
Technologv of the Russian Academv of Sciences started sea
In terms of applications it appears for the moment that the trials at theend of the 1990s[36].
AUV is becoming a hydrographic tool of choice particularly
for deep water survey applications by both the militaly and

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 anticipated. In the cold-war era the military, understandably,
were very focused upon mission-effectiveness whereas private
enterprise and commercial operators are invariably focused
on cost-efectiveness.
Thus, many exotic power stems were developed or
proposed which proved to be either too expensive for normal
non-military use, e.g., closed-cycle heat engines using metal
combustion, or which required colossal R&D investments to
ensure. that the system had the reliability required by the
militaly. This scenario often led to both the military and the
Fig. 9. Solar Powered AUV 1361
non-military retuming after some novel excursions to the use
of battery power for many applications. The operational
The other renewable energy AUV is the SLOCUM, success of the survey data gathering AUTOSUB and
described by its inventors and developers as an underwater Autonomous Benthic Explorer [4] AUVs have further
glider [34]. The basic concept is that a thermal engine system strengthened the case for battery-power.
using a phase-change fluid absorbs energy from the higher Hence, after over three decades of AUV development
temperature surface water and rejects it to the cooler deep following the breach in the exclusive use of the oceans by the
during the vehicle glide down the thermocline. The stored
military it has become clear that no single AUV concept
energy by using a system of hydraulic valves and bladders meets all user needs. Nevertheless great strides have been
can then he used to alter the buoyancy of the glider enabling made in technology developments and in design
it to descend and ascend. ’Hotel’ load is provided by the
methodologies. Indeed one of the world’s leading
batteries. This novel system has apparently been proven at independent underwater vehicle companies, International
sea hut very few precise details of the thermocline engine Submarine Engineering of Canada, now has a wehsite[5]
have yet been provided.
which includes a downloadable AUV design package
highlighting perhaps that access to underwater vehicle
Vll. CONCLUDING REMARKS technology is now truly in the public domain.
As AUVs evolve and become truly commercial products
The origins of AUV power systems can he traced back to there is no doubt that power systems and power systems
the beginnings of recorded underwater technology in the
integration will also evolve. This evolution will be greatly
times of Herodotus, Alexander the Great and Aristotle. enhanced once the power system development becomes as
However, it was only in the ISth and particularly the 19Ih much the bailiwick of underwater vehicle designers as the
century that ideas and concepts began to become reality and other key technologies. However, as this short paper has
actual prototypes and in the case of the Whitehead-type and illustrated the power system is often more of an afterthought
Howell torpedoes were commercial products. Bushnell,
in the AUV evolution process than a primary concern.
Fulton, Bauer, Nordenfelt, Holland and others demonstrated
the practicality of underwater military vehicles and in so ACKNOWLEDGMENT
doing provided or prompted the provision of much of the
fundamental technology and science.
Work on underwater power systems at the University of
Once the private inventor and the commercial shipbuilders
Windsor is sponsored by research grants from the Natural
had at last attracted the attention of the leading navies and
Science and Engineering Council of Canada and the
nations the development of underwater vehicles and their University of Windsor.
associated power systems passed almost exclusively into the
hands of the military until the foraging for oceanic liquid
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