Energy management for the Nereus hybrid underwater vehicle

Abstract

The hybrid vehicle Nereus employs an energy efficient architecture to enable novel modes of remote operation. Available energy is limited by the capacity of Nereus's on-board batteries. Nereus's energy design was developed by first creating representative dive profiles for candidate missions, and then developing an energy budget for each mission. The design of energy intensive subsystems, including the propulsion thrusters, manipulator arm, and lights, was optimized to reduce energy consumption while delivering adequate performance. Performance of Nereus's energy systems during its first three expeditions is reported.