CIAM

In the CIAM project, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are being developed that are capable of autonomous inspection missions with a travel distance of 500km. This eliminates the need for supply vessels and allows a mission to start in one port and end in another remote port. For this purpose, two innovative AUVs are designed, manufactured, integrated and tested: one for a diving depth of 1000m, the other for 5000m. Among other things, the focus is on an efficient propulsion system, a novel energy supply including a fuel cell, innovative sensor technology (compact sub-bottom profiler, measurement of the electric field) as well as a long-term-robust software. Various components of the system can be intelligently switched on or off during certain mission segments to increase the energy efficiency of the overall system without sacrificing good navigation quality. An actuated docking station will be developed for deploying or retrieving AUVs from a ship (if required by the mission). The goal of the project is to enable frequent long-range inspections without having to rely on the availability of ships or good weather conditions at the water surface.