Autonomous hovering profiler

Abstract

The Autonomous hovering profiler (AHP) presented here has its basis on the Controlled thruster driven profiler that was first conceptualized in US patent 6,786,087 [1] thereafter developed as a proven oceanographic profiler (the Autonomous Vertical Profiler- AVP) [2] that is being used in scientific programs at NIO, Goa. We have augmented the AVP by incorporating additional acoustic and pressure sensors together with a versatile hover /altitude control system that maintains the device at a constant altitude above the seabed or below the sea surface. By doing this the AHP can hover and follow the topography of the seabed or sea surface as it drifts under the action of ocean currents. The development has the potential of novel applications in coral and seabed photography, time tracking of surface phytoplankton blooms and to autonomously follow the gradients of physical variables of chlorophyll, temperature, and dissolved oxygen which have stable time varying vertical profile shapes.