Underwater Deployment and Recovery System with the EVA Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
Year: 2026
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: This paper presents an autonomous system for subsea payload transport, deployment, and recovery using an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). Persistent underwater observation missions often require temporary seabed installations capable of operating without human intervention or permanent infrastructure. To address this challenge, a complete operational framework integrating mechanical deployment, visual perception, and autonomous guidance was developed and validated. The approach employs a passive mechanical mechanism that performs payload release and capture through vehicle motion and contact forces, eliminating the need for dedicated electrical actuators and increasing robustness in deep-sea environments. Visual fiducial markers enable georeferenced placement during deployment and support detection, localization, and closed-loop guidance during recovery. The recovery maneuver combines horizontal alignment, heading correction, and controlled vertical descent to ensure reliable capture before the vehicle resumes its mission. The system was validated through simulation, laboratory tank experiments, and real-world field trials in a flooded mine environment. During field operations, the AUV autonomously deployed an instrumented payload, revisited the site after a multi-day measurement period, successfully detected the target, and recovered it together with the collected data. Results demonstrate the feasibility of infrastructure-free subsea monitoring and confirm the reliability of autonomous deployment and recovery for long-duration underwater observation missions.
Language: English
Subfield: Ocean Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7201869735