Autonomous Ocean Pioneers

AUVs – the unmanned heroes of marine research​

The expedition around the world by the British steam corvette HMS Challenger is considered the beginning of modern marine research. As early as 1872, researchers gathered precise data about the oceans for the first time – from surface temperatures to the composition of the deep-sea floor.​

What began at the end of the 19th century with sailing ships and photographic chambers has now undergone rapid development. There are still research vessels conducting ocean research, but they are expensive to operate and are no longer ideally suited to the current challenges. Increased offshore activities and expansion on the seabed for deep-sea cables and pipelines require new solutions to secure critical infrastructure. To this end, unmanned underwater vehicles, known as AUVs (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles), have been developed in recent years. These have many decisive advantages: they can be used in any weather and sea conditions in demanding environments, have a long range, are climate-friendly, and can thus penetrate previously unknown depths on the seabed.​

They are packed with high-tech features: whether 360-degree cameras, sonars, pressure sensors, magnetometers, laser scanners, or ultrasonic measurements, AUVs capture their surroundings precisely in 3D, detect even the smallest damage, and navigate reliably through complex offshore structures even in darkness and strong currents.​