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More on the AUV research programme
To achieve the goals of the AUV programme, FFI has teamed up with civilian partners.
As a result of this partnership, a self-supporting national AUV industry has been established. The civilian partners include Kongsberg Simrad AS, Statoil and Norwegian Underwater Intervention (NUI).
The first HUGIN 3000 vehicle in July 2000, shortly before delivery to C&C Technologies. Photo: FFI/Kongsberg Simrad
The HUGIN system is the fruit of this collaboration. A success in its own right, it also serves as a rock solid technological base for future military AUV systems. With five years of operational experience in commercial settings and harsh environments around the world, the HUGIN development group is unmatched. FFI now acts as a subcontractor to the industry in technology development for new commercial HUGIN systems.
Specifically, FFI's main areas of expertise in the HUGIN systems include:
- Navigation software (real-time and post processing)
- Guidance and control systems
- Operator interfaces
- Payload data compression and presentation
- Battery technology
- Mechanical design
Side scan sonar imagery of the passenger ship Robert E Lee, sunk by a German submarine during WW2. Data recorded by HUGIN 3000 in the Gulf of Mexico, 2001. Photo: C&C Technologies/BP.
In parallel with the commercial AUV development, FFI has pursued a technology programme to develop key technologies for higher levels of autonomy. Main research topics include:
- Precise, autonomous navigation, including aided inertial navigation systems (AINS) and terrain referenced navigation
- Sensor technology, including the synthetic aperture sonar (SAS)
- Sensor data processing, including data fusion and automatic mine detection and classification
- Energy sources, including rechargeable batteries, semi fuel cells, and sea water batteries
These technology areas are crucial for military use of AUVs, but there have also been important spin-offs to civilian AUV applications. As an example, the AINS developed by FFI is now used in all HUGIN vehicles.
HUGIN-Publications
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