Global Prospects for AUVs
Authors: Westwood J. 
Published: October 2008

This paper summarises work on defining and quantifying the likely applications and resulting demand for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and gives the results of a major study.1 After many years of research, AUVs are in the process of entering their first commercial applications in the offshore industries but there remain concerns over their commercial viability and whether a major market will evolve. This paper reviews the progress of AUVs in commercial applications and develops forecasts of the likely growth of their use over the next five years. Although the main initial requirement is for deepwater survey, the author argues that the eventual major application will be for seabed survey in shallower waters. Other applications examined include work in pipe lay, cable inspection and IRM of deepwater installations. AUVs are a promising technology that offers great potential for specific tasks. This paper takes a view of the techno-economic problems and what might reasonably be achieved in a five-year timeframe.

Introduction

The commercial unmanned underwater vehicles industry is a little over 25 years old. In that time vehicles have evolved from unreliable prototypes developed for research and military purposes into essential everyday tools without which many ocean industries such as deepwater oil & gas production would not exist. In March 1995, a Japanese ROV reached the deepest point of the Mariana Trench, at 10,911m. Notable ROV achievements also include recovery of a lost hydrogen bomb and participation in the rescue of a trapped submersible and its two-man crew from 485m below the Atlantic. The most economically important group of UUVs are the 'Work-Class' ROVs with some 478 in operation worldwide

However, in some applications the limits of remotely controlled operations have now been reached. Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) freed of the constraints of an umbilical cable are true robots designed to carry out specific preprogrammed tasks such as seabed survey. Early units have performed remarkable feats, including a 320km under-ice transit whilst laying fibre-optic cable, others completing high precision seabed surveys, aircraft wreckage location and inspection of submarine cables. Various publications2 have identified some 50-70 AUVs having been built to date, but many are prototypes built by R&D organizations and others have been built for military purposes.

The Survey AUV

Seabed survey and/or oceanographic data gathering are the applications that are least demanding of AUV technology as they do not involve manipulative tasks or require real-time through-water communications (apart from perhaps acoustic transmission of data samples for QC purposes), therefore survey is where the first routine commercial applications will emerge. AUV operations are under commercial development by each of the three largest survey contractors. Deepwater Survey. The oil & gas industry is rapidly advancing into deeper waters. Our analysis of offshore fields proposed for development between 2000 and 2004 shows that nearly 20% of their reserves are in depths greater than 300 metres.