During a recent deep water trials campaign in Madeira, an ecoSUm25-Science autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) was launched and successfully completed a spiral behavior to provide vertical profiling of the water column down to 2,000m depth, and back again.
Based on the affordable ecoSUBm series AUV platform, the ecoSUBm25-Science AUV weighs 12kg and is depth rated to 2,500m. While most deep rated AUV technology is based on large and expensive platforms, costing millions of dollars, the ecoSUB platform is in the tens of thousands, expanding accessibility to autonomous ocean data collection for the marine science community and others.
The ecoSUBm25-Science AUV was equipped with a CTD and a Chelsea Technologies TriLux sensor, providing measurements of conductivity, temperature, chlorophyll, turbidity and phycoerythrin. The m25 platform is also capable of hosting sensors to measure dissolved oxygen, CDOM, pH, oil in water, as well as navigation sensors such as altimeters and DVL, along with acoustic coms for underwater communications.
(Image: ecoSUB RObotics)
The 2,000m depth mission was completed on July 30, 2024. Launch and recovery was from Observatoio 1, a fast RIB research vessel provided by the Oceanic Observatory of Madeira, who supported the trials providing workshop and vessel support.
Furthermore, on board navigation and mission parameters maintained a launch point and recovery point separation of just 125 meters, demonstrating the systems ability to maintain a straight down and straight up capability. Total mission length was 1h 40m. Maximum depth recorded was 2,002 meters.