The invention relates to an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). The AUV includes a frame and tunnel thrusters for propelling and orientating the AUV, where the tunnel thrusters have inlets and outlets, each of outlets being directed in a different orientation, and are mounted to the frame. The AUV further includes fasteners for connecting the frame to a hull, where the fasteners have an orientation that is substantially parallel to the tunnel thrusters. The hull has a substantially spherical shape and further includes (1) a bottom plate with inlet openings. (2) a top plate with outlet openings, where the top plate and the bottom plate are affixed to the fasteners and hold plate rings of the hull in place, and (3) each of the plate rings that further includes a corresponding retention ring and corresponding central plates.

A product may be stored in a protective container that is surrounded with a fluid. A heat-sensitivity rating for the product may be obtained, and a product energy for the product may be calculated. The calculating may include adjusting the longest dimension of the product based on the heat-sensitivity rating and defining a sphere of enthalpy around the product. The sphere's radius may be equal to the adjusted product dimension and the sphere may be centered at the product center. The calculating may also comprise multiplying the volume of the sphere by the air pressure inside the protective container. An environmental condition within the sphere during a first time period may be forecasted. It may be determined that the product is likely to deteriorate during the first time period based on the product energy and heat-sensitivity rating. The altitude of the protective container may be altered to mitigate this deterioration.

A hand controller for commanding or controlling a target, such as a remote vehicle or a virtual target, includes a display mounted on a free end of a joystick for indicating graphically a direction of the remote vehicle from the hand controller and an orientation of the target relative to the hand controller's frame of reference, based on the location and orientation of the target received by the hand controller from the target and the location and orientation of the hand controller.

A Data Transmitting Marine Vessel System (DRTMEVS) that deploys and provisions the operation of both an aerial visual and data collection drone and an underwater camera and data collection system ROV to gather data at, above, and below the surface of the water simultaneously or individually, or in multiples. The vessel having geodetic and GPS guidance systems that determine the course and actions of the crafts either in a pre-programmed autonomous mode or from a remote operator. The control of the three separate remotely controlled data collection systems and craft are consolidated in the form of a vessel of (DRTMEVS) and monitored via a multitude of possible signals anywhere in the world from a control center.

A method of underwater tsunami detection includes detecting a trigger event using disruption of at least one of a plurality of hard disk drives (HDDs), each different one of the plurality of HDDs in a different one of a plurality of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). A time and location of each of the at least one HDD for the trigger event is logged. Based on at least one of the HDD disruptions, times, and locations of the at least one HDD of the plurality of HDDs, a size, strength, and direction of a tsunami caused by the trigger event is determined. Information regarding the tsunami is transmitted to a monitoring station.

An automatic depth regulation system uses changes in water pressure to automatically control the depth of an underwater vehicle. The system uses a piston chamber having a piston that is movably disposed within the chamber and mechanically linked to the vehicle's fins. The bottom of the piston is subjected to pressure from the ambient environment through which the vehicle travels. The chamber contains a compressible medium at a preselected pressure above the piston. A spring is also above the piston in the chamber. Changes in ambient pressure on the bottom of the piston causes the piston to move within the chamber, thereby rotating the fins to adjust the depth of the vehicle to the desired, preselected, depth. The desired depth is determined by the pressure and spring force exerted on the top of the piston in opposition to the ambient pressure.

Embodiments, including systems and methods, for remotely controlling underwater vehicles (such as ROVs) and deploying ocean bottom seismic nodes from the underwater vehicles. A direct data connection may be created between an Integrated Navigation System (located on a surface vessel) and a ROV controller/Dynamic Positioning (DP) system (which may be located on the surface vessel and/or the ROV). The INS may be configured to output the ROV target position and ROV position (such as standard 2 or 3 dimensional coordinates) to the DP system. The DP system may be configured to calculate the necessary ROV movements based on directly received data from the INS. Based on a selected ROV target destination or desired ROV action (which may be done automatically or by an operator), the ROV may be automatically positioned and/or controlled based on commands from the DP system based on commands and/or data from the INS.

A tether control system for an inspection vehicle operable in a housing having a liquid medium is disclosed in the present application. The tether system includes a tether connected between the inspection vehicle and an electronic controller. A controllable buoyancy system associated with the tether is operable for moving the tether in a desired location. The controllable buoyancy system includes one or more floating bodies having a propulsion system and one or more buoyant elements having variable buoyancy capabilities.

The present invention provides a self-positioning system of a deepwater underwater robot of an irregular dam surface of a reservoir, including cross reflection metal plates arranged on the irregular dam surface, and an underwater robot provided with a control motherboard, a water level indicator and a sonar system, wherein the water level indicator and the sonar system are respectively connected with the control motherboard, and the control motherboard is connected with a computer via a cable. The cross reflection metal plate has known coordinates and has four quadrants. A sonar signal emitted by the sonar system is reflected by the cross reflection metal plate to generate sonar reflection signals of four quadrants, and the sonar signals in the effective quadrants correspond to known coordinate parameters of the cross reflection metal plate so as to obtain the horizontal distance between the underwater robot and the irregular dam surface. The water level indicator is used for calculating the vertical position of the underwater robot. The computer calculates accurate positioning of the underwater robot according to the horizontal position and the vertical position. The present invention has the beneficial effects of being able to accurately obtain the positioning coordinates of the underwater robot in the deepwater of the irregular dam surface of the reservoir.

A computer-implemented method includes receiving data from one or more sensors that detect one or more environmental parameters associated with an autonomous submersible structure, determining one or more navigation parameters based on the one or more environmental parameters and one or more viability profiles associated with cargo contained within the autonomous submersible structure and that specify constraints on the one or more environmental parameters, and controlling, based on the one or more navigation parameters, a propulsion system of the autonomous submersible structure.