Author(s): Petter Norgren; Raed Lubbad; Roger Skjetne
Linked Author(s):
Keywords: No Keywords
Abstract: Unmanned underwater vehicle technology has matured to a point where it is possible to use these types of vehicles for deep water, and long endurance missions. The Arctic seafloor remains one of the last unexplored areas on Earth, but unmanned underwater vehicles are starting to change this. From the first deployment of autonomous underwater vehicles in the Arctic in 1972, these vehicles have been used in more complex and longer missions. This paper presents a survey of autonomous underwater vehicles used in Arctic operations. The paper highlights the applications of such vehicles in the Arctic and discusses the motivation behind their development. Through this paper, it will be made clear that special equipment, planning, and considerations must be made for an operation in the Arctic to be successful. Much experience has been gathered through the different expeditions that have taken place in the last two decades, and a summary of the different experiences will be discussed. Specifically, experiences from autonomous underwater vehicles operating under ice, navigation and communication in the Arctic, and operations from ships are discussed. Furthermore, some of the authors own experience from deploying a remotely operated vehicle from the icebreaker Oden north-east of Greenland in 2013 will be presented.
Year: 2014