Design and Fabrication of a Low-Cost 6 DoF Underwater Vehicle

Abstract

To perform an underwater mission and observe the environment, a vehicle must be designed with multiple sensors and appropriate structural strength to bear challenging underwater conditions. This paper discusses the design and fabrication of such a vehicle to have a low-cost tag than its contemporary counterparts available in the market. Off-the-shelf thrusters are used to control the vehicle in 6 Degrees of Freedom. In the absence of GPS and radio signal capabilities, an Ethernet cable tethered connection is used for communication between the vehicle and control station on the ground. The camera can stream live video to the ground control station for control or mapping during the implementation of the SLAM algorithm. To minimize the cost of fabrication, commercially available materials were used. The vehicle’s uniqueness lies in its simplicity, low-cost, and ability to be integrated with a range of sensors depending upon the mission requirements.