Innovative AUV technology

Increasing accessibility to AUVs

ecoSUB Robotics is committed to making AUV technology accessible to all; reducing the barriers to autonomous system use in the underwater environment

ecoSUB values

• We, as a team believe in thinking differently, and challenging the status quo
• We believe in great design
• We believe that Autonomy should be available to all

Key ecoSUB design features

• Light, one person portable systems for easy launch and recovery
• Limited infrastructure requirements – AUV, Hermes (or router) and Laptop is all that is needed to run missions
• Remote operation – missions can be operated/monitored from any global location
• Hot swappable battery systems for quick and easy battery replacement
• Use Primary Alkaline or rechargeable NiMH D cells – low cost and easy to transport
• Fully autonomous platform – no need to write code, behaviours or mission scripts
• Easy to use Windows based software for interfacing with vehicles, point and click mission planning with detailed parameter controls, vehicle recovery module, data transfer and data plotting and more 
• Front seat / Back seat architecture for integrating users own hardware, code or algorithms
• Iridium satellite coms for full global coverage, Wi-Fi  for high bandwidth data transfer
• Vehicles transmit system status and position information every 10 minutes when on the surface to confirm okay for re-tasking or to ensure easy recovery 

• Flexible nose cones – custom designs for specific payload, can be hot swappable in the field to reconfigure vehicle payload
• The ecoSUBu5 maintains a cylinder rule with antenna in line with the body, ideal for tube launch applications.  Less protrusions means a more robust system
• No rotating shaft seals, we have no penetrations into the housing other than full ocean spec connectors.  ecoSUB AUVs use magnetic couplings for prop and rudder control.  Enables deep rated vehicles – 500m and 2,500m 
• Antennas have GPS, Wi-Fi, Iridium, visible light and infra-red light
• Nano-modem integration for underwater coms and Network Localisation 
• USBL aided navigation and vehicle tracking available

Science, Commercial, Defence 

ecoSUB AUVs serve a wide range of sectors, with the capability to deploy high accuracy ocean science sensors for measuring CTD, DO, Chlorophyll-a, CDOM, Backscatter, Turbidity, pH, PAR and also Side Scan Sonar, 4k camera and high accuracy navigation payloads for survey applications.

Many more users from research, academia and teaching will be able to access marine autonomous systems (MAS) and apply the benefits of collecting wide spatial and temporal data.  Our aim is to democratise the use of AUV technology.

The defence sector already recognises the potential for autonomous system use in their situational awareness and tactical operations, ecoSUB dramatically reduces barriers to MAS use, significantly reducing logistical challenges of launch, recovery and operations, with scope for integrated mission control and useful, focused data products to deliver key information when and where it is needed.

Commercial operators, especially in the offshore energy sector, see enormous potential in the affordable use of MAS for a whole range of activity, including rapid response to environmental challenges, subsea inspection and asset monitoring and support.  The design of ecoSUBm was led by BP International who supported its development.

Find out more about our ecoSUB AUVs

The international ecoSUB user community includes:

Discover our range of pre-configured vehicles:

ecoSUBm-Scout Series
​AUVs for survey applications

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ecoSUB-Science Series
​AUVs for science applications

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ecoSUB-Hydrocarbon Sniffer Series
​AUVs for O&G applications

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Keep up to date with ecoSUB News

From our early days leveraging the expertise and resource of the National Oceanography Centres Marine Autonomous & Robotics Systems (MARS) group to the development of an ever increasing range of payload options for our vehicles, we have kept our news page up to date with what's happening.

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