A hybrid underwater profiler used for persistent monitoring

Abstract

Underwater profilers are widely used as measurement platform for ocean monitoring. However, these profilers only control the depth itself while lack the control ability in horizontal plane. The disadvantage of lacking horizontal mobility for profilers leads to drifting along with current passively and the deviation from the desired region. In this paper, we present a hybrid underwater profiler (HUP) aiming to overcome the disadvantage. The hybrid profiler has the characteristics as follows: it combines the capacity of an underwater profiler to have a good maneuverability in vertical direction, and the capacity of an underwater glider to glide in order to rectify the horizontal displacement offset generated by current. Due to the characteristics, the hybrid profiler could be used for ocean persistent monitoring to get the profiling data in a specified area.