AUV Commercialization – Who’s Leading the Pack Abstract- Taking AUV technology from the d.pdf

AUV Commercialization – Who’s Leading the Pack? Robert L. Wernli SPAWAR Systems Center San Diego Code D7405 San Diego, CA 92152 wernli@ Abstract - Taking AUV technology from the drawing board subsea market will increase from $4.9 billion in 1998 to and putting it into commercial practice has been a long and $11.8 billion in 2003. They envision two main groups of costly process, however, there are several companies that have AUVs—a Survey AUV for data gathering and a Hybrid done just that. Are AUVs ready for commercialization? Have AUV/ROV for subsea intervention. they been successful? Who’s leading the pack? Who’s buying-- military, offshore, academia? This paper will attempt to answer those questions. The survey systems would be used to survey drilling sites and pipe routes, and they could also take in-situ soil I. INTRODUCTION measurements and measure seabed currents along the pipeline route. Douglas-Westwood estimates indicate that AUVs have moved from a state of research and subsea drilling site surveys typically cost from $150k-$250k development, through oper