A highly versatile autonomous underwater vehicle with biomechanical propulsion

Abstract

An autonomous underwater vehicle with a biomechanical propulsion system is a possible answer to the demand for small, silent sensor platforms in many fields. The design of Galatea, a bio-mimetic AUV, involves four aspects: hydrodynamic shape, the propulsion, the motion control systems and payload. The shape of the hull is based on a modified Wortmann FX 71-L-150/20 airfoil. Wind tunnel tests have been conducted to determine the hydrodynamic force coefficients. The propulsion system is based on bio-mimetic undulating fin propulsion. A test set-up is build to get more insight in the fundamentals of this mechanism. The swimming behaviour is currently manually controlled and will be developed into an fully autonomous system. In the future, more research on the undulating fin propulsion system will be carried out and a second, modular prototype robot will be developed.