A Feasibility-study of a Micro- Communications Sonobuoy Deployable by UAV Robots

This paper describes a feasibility study that is included with the research, development and testing of a micro communications sonobuoy deployable by Maritime Fixed wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (M-UAV) and rotor wing Quad Copters which are both currently being developed by the University of Adelaide. The micro communications sonobuoy is developed to act as a seamless communication relay between an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) and an above water human operator some distance away. Development of such a device would eliminate the requirement of physical communication tethers attached to submersible vehicles for control and data retrieval.

Authors:

• B. Munro
• D. Lim
• A. Anvar

Keywords:

• Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
• AUV
• Maritime
• Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
• UAV
• Micro Sonobuoy
• Communication.

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