Research on biomimetic underwater vehicles for underwater ISR

Abstract

Autonomous Biomimetic Underwater Vehicles BUVs driven by an undulating propulsion are a new branch in an area of an underwater robotics. They imitate both the construction and kinematics of a motion of underwater living organisms, e.g. fishes. Such vehicles have several features crucial from the point of view of military applications, e.g. larger secrecy and potential range of operation. The paper presents results of the research on BUVs carried out within two (Polish and EDA) projects both led by Polish Naval Academy. At the beginning, the initial efforts in building Polish BUV called CyberFish are included. Then, selected results of the tests of subsystems, e.g. navigational and 3D model of BUV built within national project are described. Next, the initial research achieved in the international project are showed. At the end, the schedule of the research planned to carry out within both projects is inserted. The paper is mainly focused on the hardware development of the BUVs.