SeaBED AUV

SeaBED is a class of survey autonomous underwater vehicles developed at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for high-resolution seafloor and sea-ice imaging. Its twin-hull design gives passive pitch and roll stability and low forward speed, near 0.25 to 0.5 m/s, so it hovers and flies tight survey lines close to the bottom for centimeter-scale photomosaics and multibeam maps. SeaBED vehicles produced the first detailed three-dimensional maps of Antarctic sea-ice underside thickness from below. The low-speed, stable platform fills the niche between fast torpedo-shaped AUVs and station-keeping ROVs, suited to detailed mapping over rough terrain and under ice.