IOC facilitated cross-school cooperation between National Taiwan University of Science and Technology and National Cheng Kung University to build Taiwan’s first batch of domestically produced autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs)

IOC facilitated domestic universities to form a team to create Taiwan's first domestically produced autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) with both low resistance and high pressure resistance characteristics. (Courtesy of IOC)

In order to bid farewell to high-risk artificial diving operations, IOC facilitated cross-school cooperation between Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology and National Cheng Kung University to create Taiwan's first domestically produced autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) with both low resistance and high pressure resistance characteristics. The IOC stated that the team overcame the technical risks of lack of underwater GPS and limited communication, and achieved a 100% domestically produced independent technology chain from appearance design to actual guidance and control measurement. In the future, it will fully invest in marine surveys and offshore wind power and other underwater facility maintenance.

The Maritime Science and Technology Commission's "Ocean Science and Technology Project" subsidized the team of Professor Weng Jian'er of Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology and the team of Professor Chen Yongyu of National Cheng Kung University to jointly implement the "Research and Development and Field Testing of Domestic Underwater Vehicles with Autonomous Tracking" project across schools. They developed a domestically produced autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) with autonomous navigation and precise tracking capabilities, successfully breaking the bottleneck of long-term dependence on foreign countries for key underwater technologies.

In order to break through the bottleneck of navigation and positioning of underwater unmanned vehicles, the team adopted streamlined low-resistance and computer simulation optimization design to create a lightweight vehicle with a total length of 3.4 meters and a metal shell weighing about 50 kilograms. The electronic cabin has been tested to withstand the hydrostatic pressure of a water depth of 20 meters (about 2 bar), and has both high structural strength and energy-saving navigation benefits.

In addition, in order to solve the long-term problem of being unable to receive satellite positioning (GPS) underwater, the team integrated multi-sensor technologies such as inertial measurement unit (IMU), underwater velocity meter (DVL) and geomagnetometer to create keen underwater positioning, which can strictly control the positioning error within 10 meters within 5 minutes of submersible, effectively overcoming the dilemma of underwater wandering; at the same time, AI was introduced Neural-like network (RBF) performs intelligent power control, and can still propel steadily at a speed of 5 knots under the interference of strong sea currents, accurately controlling the trajectory tracking error within 5.2 meters (less than twice the length of the ship).

IOC stated that this research and development results can be widely used in marine environmental surveys, port channel inspections, and underwater facility maintenance operations such as submarine cables and offshore wind power in the future. Through the automated cruise and high-precision sensing capabilities of AUV, it can not only replace traditional high-risk manual diving operations and high-cost manned vessels, but also significantly improve the safety of operators and greatly increase the efficiency of ocean data collection and detection.

Domestic independently developed underwater lifting equipment was actually tested in the deep-water swimming pool of National Cheng Kung University. (Courtesy of IOC)