The Optonaut AUV is a lean, long-range sensor platform, intent on making persistent AUV fleet deployment affordable for ocean science.

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The Optonaut will enable the meso-scale sampling of ocean data that government agencies need to manage sustainable blue economies. This long-range AUV technology reduces aggregate ocean survey costs as much as 100X when compared to existing survey options, affording higher spatial-resolution data nodes across and within the dynamic ocean realm. 

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Initial application foci include:

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• Benthic/low-altitude water quality surveys (DO, CTD, pH, PAR...) and bathyphotometry.

• Long-endurance reef studies (quasi-synchronous photogrammetry of large areas).

• High-resolution bathymetry of Marine Protected Areas.

 

Utilizing a fast-charge, balanced energy budget strategy, this high-performance solar AUV (SAUV) is engineered to need only 3-hours surface time to absorb a full day energy supply (at an average 40 watt total power load). Operating at that power load level, an Optonaut carries a 3-day energy reserve to allow for extraordinary mission flexibility. Higher loads and additional subsurface work time may be safely accommodated by additional surface time to recharge. At its cruising speed of 2.5kts, an Optonaut requires less than 10W for propulsion. 

 

Between the moment of deployment and the time human interface is again warranted, the modest Optonaut AUV could provide 100 kilowatt-hours of energy for mobile undersea research. It is a lean, long-range mobile platform designed to remain in the field for months at a stretch, limited only by bio-fouling. 

 

Maximum Freedom Through a Minimum of Hardware.

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With self-sustaining energy budget and 1000M introductory depth spec, an Optonaut will provide  unmatched core competencies in a nektonic sensor platform. Its robust architectural simplicity brings genuinely game-changing reductions to long-range AUV size, weight and associated deployment costs. 

 

Hand-launchable, even from small research vessels or shoreline, this compact camera ship and sensor platform will be capable of autonomously recording remote areas of the seafloor in unprecedented resolution.  Unconstrained by the dive profile and density gradient mandates of AUV gliders, water qualities may be detected along the benthos, where destabilized conditions such as hypoxia can become fatal to immobile, foundational sea-life. Optonaut will bring the freedom of extended range and depth, as well as prolonged littoral access, to researchers in many fields of ocean study.