Autonomy

Our autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are known as NOC Autosubs.

You've probably heard of them as ‘Boaty McBoatface’ after the famous UK public competition for naming a research vessel. The first NOC Autosub vehicle missions took place in 1997, and since then NOC Autosub AUVs have been used extensively for the demands of ocean research in remote and hostile environments where endurance, reliability and the ability to operate independently with little or no vessel support are essential requirements. To accommodate continuously evolving research demands, NOC Autosubs have been designed to provide excellent power and flexibility for different chemical sensor payloads and imaging equipment.

All NOC Autosub technology has been developed in-house at the National Oceanography Centre. For our scientific work, the range includes a high power 6m 2 tonne work class AUV for shorter duration missions in depths up to 6000m requiring higher speeds and power known as NOC Autosub 5.

We also operate an autonomous hover-capable AUV which contains a total of 6 thrusters (3 vertical, 2 forward, 1 lateral) and is capable of being still as well as moving vertically in the water, best suiting high maneuverability short missions.

For longer duration missions, where the ability to shore launch and recover the AUV without the need of a vessel becomes important, we have developed NOC Autosub Long Range with both 1500m and 6000m depth variants. The key to achieving this performance is efficient propulsion at slower speeds (typically at 0.5 ms−1), and by keeping tight control of the power used by the AUV sensors and control systems with microprocessors which have high processing power, but use very little energy.

With a 2000km range, and a depth rating of 6000m, our fleet of NOC Autosub Long Range vehicles have proven themselves invaluable for providing accurate measurements of ocean data without the need for a research ship.

NOC Autosub Commercial C-ALR

Our commercial NOC Autosub can be equipped with flexible packages of chemical sensors (dependent upon application), advanced sonars and camera system and will will normally be shore launched and recovered to complete its missions. This Autosub is a perfect fit for applications including CCS leakage monitoring, oil and gas decommissioning, monitoring of marine protected areas, survey work and much more.

Get in touch to find out more about the commercial applications of our C-ALR NOC Autosub and to understand if it would be a good alternative to how you currently operate.