Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) Market
Although several hundred Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) have been produced to date, AUVs are still regarded as a relatively new technology. Some analysts say that they have the potential to ‘change the game’ in some areas of underwater operations. Considerable investments by research institutes, manufacturers and the military are resulting in AUVs becoming increasing accepted in some of key roles where they have been shown to be more effective than previous technology.
A recent report identifies three significant growth markets for AUVS, namely oil & gas, research and military applications. The report covers the period from 2008-17 and examines the market drivers and prospects in each of the main application sectors. It identifies a “most likely” market scenario being valued at $1.8 billion with the upside market potential valued at over $3.5 billion.
Marport and Canada’s with the National Research Council of Canada’s Institute for Ocean Technology (NRC-IOT) are co-developing a compact AUV designed for search and survey applications. The AUV is code-named SQX1 and is a hydrodynamically stable platform designed for reliable performance and low life-cycle cost. The vehicle’s dual-pod design enables exceptional stability and its position and velocity controllers are tuned for near-hovering capabilities. SQX1 will be equipped with Marport’s Software Defined Sonar (SDS) platform – which will include advanced sensors, sounders and imaging sonar. The payload architecture can also be configured to include a wide variety of standard and/or custom sensors to meet unique subsea mission requirements.
The development of the vehicle is progressing very well and Marport expects to be conducting open water sea trials during this coming summer.
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