Energy Efficiency of the Swarm-Capable Micro AUV SEMBIO

The power module is one of the most important components of an AUV's electrical design. The AUV's propulsion, sensors, and processing are usually powered by batteries. However, batteries cannot provide a great deal of energy, which influences the AUV's range and mission objectives, and, implicitly, its level of autonomy. For small and micro AUV, longer endurance is a key aim and a desirable feature for practical applications. In addition, returning the robot to its home-base and recharging the AUV to complete the task would be expensive and time-consuming. This paper presents the SEMBIO AUV that was constructed to reduce energy consumption using a streamlined body design. Although the enhancement of energy sources and storage performance is beyond the scope of this work, attention must be paid not only to the performance of the on-board energy source, but also to the amount of energy that is required overall. The experimental results of reducing the amount of energy consumption by SEMBIO during operation by a solar and energy management system (SEMS) are conducted.

I. Introduction

Unlike tethered ROVs that can receive their power from the mission vessel, untethered vehicles are restricted in their duration of operation by their on-board power system. For the majority of existing AUVs, the system is based on batteries that provide a limited amount of energy [1]. The hardware or software structure of underwater robots was improved in a number of projects as a way of the extending mission duration, as in the case of the SAUV [2].