Design and implementation of an AUV for petroleum pipeline inspection

Abstract

Inspection of petroleum pipelines is very crucial for oil and gas companies. Using a ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) for pipeline inspection requires extensive expenses due to heavy equipment and a large number of crew members for operations. In order to save the inspection cost, Kasetsart University and PTTEP have cooperated to conduct a research and development of a specialized AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle). This paper describes a design and implementation of our lab-scale AUV. The AUV is controlled by using a 6-degree-of-freedom PID controller. Sensors used on the AUV include a sonar, a DVL, a pressure sensor, and an altimeter. A software structure of our AUV is based on ROS (Robot Operation System).