Maya AUV is an

autonomous underwater vehicle An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a robot that travels underwater without requiring input from an operator. AUVs constitute part of a larger group of undersea systems known as unmanned underwater vehicles, a classification that includes ...

( AUV), developed by the Marine Instrumentation Division at the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), India.

Description

The Maya AUV belongs to a class of small

s that have been gaining popularity in marine application areas such as

oceanography Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...

, monitoring the coastal environment, as well as in naval applications such as mapping of

naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any ...

s for mine countermeasures. The vehicle has an endurance of 7.2 hours, a total length of approximately 1.7 m, a diameter of 0.234 m with a slender-ellipsoid nose that is free-flooding and houses scientific payloads. The nose-cone is designed to be swappable to use alternate scientific sensors depending upon the application. The main pressurized hull of the AUV is rated to 200m depth operations and houses the electronics, navigation sensors, batteries as well as the actuators for the rudders and fins. The AUV is propelled by a single rear thruster in the aft section which also houses a mast for the GPS and communication antennae. Navigation sensors include a

Doppler Velocity Log An acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) is a hydroacoustic current meter similar to a sonar, used to measure water current velocities over a depth range using the Doppler effect of sound waves scattered back from particles within the water ...

and a MEMS

Inertial Measurement Unit An inertial measurement unit (IMU) is an electronic device that measures and reports a body's specific force, angular rate, and sometimes the orientation of the body, using a combination of accelerometers, gyroscopes, and sometimes magnetometer ...

. The vehicle weighs approximately 54 kg in air, with the main hull built from an aluminum alloy. It is powered by lithium polymer batteries and has a nominal speed of 1.5 m/s.

Development

The development of Maya was jointly funded by NIO and the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, New Delhi, India (known as the Department of Information Technology before 2012). The AUV's development began in 2003, completed horizontal plane tests in May 2005, with the first set of dive missions tested on May 12, 2006, making it India's first indigenously developed AUV for scientific applications. Part of the Maya AUV development was done under the scope of an Indo-Portuguese collaboration that aimed to build and test the joint operation of two AUVs for marine science applications via AdI Portugal (MAYASub project). Sensors used in the Maya AUV include Aanderaa

dissolved oxygen Oxygen saturation (symbol SO2) is a relative measure of the concentration of oxygen that is dissolved or carried in a given medium as a proportion of the maximal concentration that can be dissolved in that medium at the given temperature. It ca ...

sensor, WetLabs

chlorophyll Chlorophyll (also chlorophyl) is any of several related green pigments found in cyanobacteria and in the chloroplasts of algae and plants. Its name is derived from the Greek words , ("pale green") and , ("leaf"). Chlorophyll allow plants to a ...

and

turbidity Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air. The measurement of turbidity is a key test of water quality. Fluids can ...

sensors, RBR

CTD (instrument) ''For information about the CTD-rosette equipment package as a whole, see: Rosette sampler'' A CTD or sonde is an oceanography instrument used to measure the electrical conductivity, temperature, and pressure of seawater (the D stands for "depth, ...

and a TRIOS "hyper spectral radiometers". The AUV uses standard LQ controllers for control in the horizontal and vertical planes.{{Cite web , url=http://welcome.isr.ist.utl.pt/img/pdfs/1531_c4.pdf , title=Archived copy , access-date=2015-07-19 , archive-date=2011-04-01 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110401022312/http://welcome.isr.ist.utl.pt/img/pdfs/1531_C4.pdf , url-status=dead NIO signed agreements for the licensing of AUV technology with VEA Automation and Robotics in 2009 and L&T, in 2010.

References

Autonomous underwater vehicles Science and technology in India