Future Development Trend of Underwater Drone

Posted by fifishrov on March 20th, 2019

1. Technological innovation will be the eternal theme

           As a highly technology-intensive and systematic project, underwater vehicle mainly includes six technologies: simulation, intelligent control, underwater target detection and recognition, underwater navigation (positioning), communication and energy system. Compared with developed countries, there is still a big gap in the research of some key components and materials of underwater vehicles in our country. To realize industrialization, the emphasis is the research and development of basic materials, important components, high-precision detection equipment and sensors. Therefore, technological innovation will be a long-term work.

2. Intelligence and endurance of AUV is the key

Since 1953, especially after 1974, with the rapid development of offshore oil and gas industry, AUV has also been developing rapidly. Compared with ROV, AUV is not limited by cables, and has the characteristics of wide range of activities and good mobility, so it is suitable for a wider range of fields.

On the one hand, the level of intelligence has become a key factor in the development of AUV technology. Intelligent control technology aims at improving the autonomy of underwater vehicle. Its architecture is the integration of artificial intelligence technology and various control technologies, which is equivalent to human brain and nervous system.

On the other hand, the requirements of AUV for energy system are small size, light weight, high energy density, repeated use, safety and low cost.

From this point of view, the underwater UAV still has a lot of room for improvement.

4. Prospects for the consumer sector are promising

In terms of market size, the global experiential diving service market has grown at an average rate of about 15% in the past five years and nearly billion in 2015. At present, the global scale of diving enthusiasts has reached 200 million, the scale of consumer-grade underwater image market has reached 10 billion US dollars, and some mature enterprises have emerged.

The average growth rate of experiential diving service market in China in the past five years is about 36.5%, which is obviously higher than the global growth rate, exceeding .1 billion in 2015. Consumption prospects are considerable.

In summary, under the principle of government guidance and enterprise leadership, underwater vehicles have great potential in marine environment monitoring, marine resources development, disaster prevention and mitigation, and marine environment security.