4500 meter AUV being reclaimed (Image provided by SIA)

The 4500 meter Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), developed by Shenyang Institute of Automation (SIA), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has completed its first stage of lake test recently, making several historical breakthrough.

During the 90-day mission, the researchers conducted 118 tests, created several firsts domestically: first time to adopt vertical flat design to the AUV, remotely reclaiming the AUV from the water surface; use rotary thruster layout to realize strong maneuverability of AUV; use advanced control methods to achieve high precision mobile and static navigation control; adopt obstacle avoidance control method based on forward looking sonar to significantly enhance obstacle avoidance control capacity of the AUV, accomplishing several navigation tasks at the complex near lake bottom terrain and taking lots of pictures; install magnetic detection  sensor to the AUV to realize effective verification of magnetic anomaly, laying solid foundation for detecting polymetallic sulfides.

Source: Automatic Underwater Vehicle Department