AUV Lab History 1991-2001

History of the Odyssey-class of
Autonomous Underwater Vehicles.
During 1991 and 1992 a revolutionary new autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) was developed at the MIT Sea Grant College Program AUV Laboratory. This vehicle, called Odyssey, was designed to provide marine scientists with economical access to the ocean. This first Odyssey AUV underwent field trials off of New England in 1992 and (deployed from the National Science Foundation (NSF) icebreaker the Nathaniel B. Palmer) off of Antarctica in early 1993. The work on Odyssey was supported by the Sea Grant College Program, MIT, the National Science Foundation, and the National Underwater Research Program.

The results of these deployments led to the creation of a second-generation vehicle, Odyssey II, work that was supported by the Office of Naval Research (ONR). In the spring of 1994, Odyssey II was deployed from an ice-camp in the Beaufort Sea in support of a program to understand Arctic sea-ice mechanics. All operations were carried out in a 15' x 15' tent, enclosing a hydrohole through five feet of ice. While at the ice camp, Odyssey II performed a series of "out-and-back" missions, demonstrating its ability to home into the recovery net. Tests were cut short after nine days when the ice floe began to break up, forcing the evacuation of the camp. These tests set the groundwork for providing a unique capability to study transient events in the ice.

Under Sea Grant support, Odyssey II was operated from the NOAA ship Discoverer as part of the 1994 and 1995 VENTS programs (in a collaboration with the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory). A combination of tethered and free-swimming dives demonstrated navigation and tracking of the AUV over the Juan de Fuca Ridge, and fully-autonomous, untethered operation, as deep as 1,400 meters.

In 1995, four new vehicles were built under ONR sponsorship. As some elements of the design were improved, these vehicles are denoted Odyssey IIb. The original Odyssey II was upgraded to be the same as the Odyssey IIb vehicles. Some of the vehicles have been loaned to collaborators at Woods Hole, the Navy NRaD center in San Diego, and to industry (Electronic Design Consultants in Chapel Hill, NC). These vehicles have proved to be relatively simple to use and robust when operated by non-MIT personnel. For example, in June of 1996, two of the Odyssey IIb AUVs were used in a month-long experiment that studied the dynamics of frontal mixing in the Haro Strait, off of Vancouver Island. The vehicles carried water quality sensors, a side-scan sonar, and an water-current profiler. Over a 21-day period, the two vehicles performed 67 dives with no failures of the base vehicles and only one day lost to weather.

During 1997 through 2000 the AUV Lab focused its efforts on developing and demonstrating an Autonomous Ocean Sampling Network (AOSN). This effort was funded by ONR and involved numerous collaborators, notably the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). While the MIT AUV Lab continued its vehicle development work, WHOI developed a mooring system that allowed the AUVs to dock for data downloading and battery recharging. Additional moorings and communications systems were developed that provided seamless interface, albeit with low bandwidth, between the AUVs and ship or shore controllers. The components and eventually the entire system were tested and demonstrated in several field experiments ranging from the Labrador Sea to Monterey Bay. Two notable cruises included a search for Giant Squid off New Zealand in 1997 and the Generic Oceanographic Array Technology Sonar (GOATS) expedition to Elba, Italy in 1998. The AOSN research effort was officially concluded with a final field experiment in August 2000.

This last deployment was also the first major expedition for the new standard vehicle at the MIT AUV Lab. The Odyssey IIc class vehicles were developed in the late 1990s. These are mechanically identical to the earlier Odyssey IIbs but new software, computers and sensors enhanced their already proven capabilities. The Odyssey IIc was first tested in Monterey California in January 1999. They then performed the AOSN deployment in August 2000. After that, in September and October, they went straight on to a second GOATS cruise off the island of Elba, Italy. During this cruise the Odyssey IIc vehicles were further developed to include new navigation techniques and an improved user interface.

In parallel to the AOSN work, and Odyssey IIc development, efforts were conducted to commercialize the MIT AUV technology and make it available to an audience beyond ocean science and research. The primary industrial application envisioned was in offshore oil services, notably exploration and survey. In 1997 Bluefin Robotics was incorporated. Market studies and business analysis led to the opening of Bluefin's design and manufacturing facility in 1999. This large growth of the company, understandably, led many of the AUV Lab's engineers to fully transition to the commercial arena and work for Bluefin. Over the same time period, Dr. James Bellingham, the AUV Lab Manager transitioned to a new position as Director of Engineering at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). Dr. Bellingham has established another AUV research group at MBARI which collaborates closely with MIT's AUV Lab and Bluefin Robotics.

Faced with a large departure of engineering talent and transitioning leadership the MIT AUV Lab has chosen to consolidate its efforts. AUV development and production will be left to Bluefin, located conveniently close to the AUV Lab. With a reduced staff, and a smaller fleet of vehicles, the MIT AUV Lab is now focused on enhancing AUV technologies and pushing the application of AUVs into new scientific areas. The primary area of future technology research is adapting the AOSN concept to yield a mobile network for ocean observation. The planned area for new scientific application of AUVs is marine archaeology in deep water (below SCUBA limits). A preliminary effort was conducted in June 2001 when an Odyssey IIc AUV was deployed to Greece to search for a shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea.