Port Experiments of the Docking and Charging System Using an AUV and a Seafloor Station : Towards Long-term Seafloor Observation

This paper reports the port experiments of the docking and charging system using an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and a seafloor station (SS) where the AUV conducts seafloor survey acoustically based on the SS and then docks to the SS to charge its batteries. AUVs have the advantage of not requiring tether cables or human control. However, they have limited energy, and must be recovered before their batteries drain completely. To enhance survey efficiency and realize long-term seafloor observation, the docking method of the AUV has been proposed. To evaluate the performance of the method and the system, experiments at a port were conducted using AUV Tri-TON 2 and the SS. The AUV succeeded in docking to the SS under low visibility and the strong sea current, and charging its batteries.