Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

Roadmap Overview

Throughout history, the ocean has been a vital source of sustenance, transport, commerce, growth, and inspiration. Yet for all of our reliance on the ocean, more than eighty percent of this vast, underwater realm remains unmapped, unobserved, and unexplored. AUVs provide great opportunities for exploring our oceans. An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a robot that travels underwater without requiring input from an operator.

Image source: Naval Technology

Design Structure Matrix (DSM) Allocation

Roadmap Model using OPM

This diagram captures the main object of the roadmap (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle), its various instances including its decomposition into subsystems (Sensors, Navigation, propulsion, Battery, etc…), its characterization by Figures of Merit (FOMs) as well as the main processes (Surveying, Recharging, etc).

An Object-Process-Language (OPL) description of the roadmap scope is auto-generated and given below. It reflects the same content as the previous figure, but in a formal natural language.

Figures of Merit (FOMs)

The table below shows a list of FOMs by which autonomous underwater vehicle can be assessed.

FOM name	Units	Description
Operating Distance	km	Distance that can be traveled in an operation
Speed	km/h	Cruising speed in the water
Payload	kg	Useful payload that can be carried
Diving Depth	m	Depth that can be reached
Endurance	h	Hours that can be operated
Sensing Accuracy	m	Accuracy of sensing the objects in the water
Energy Capacity	kWh	Energy capacity that is stored in the vehicle
Recharging Time	h	Hours that is needed to recharge energy