The Bluefin-21 is an

autonomous underwater vehicle An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a robot that travels underwater without requiring continuous input from an operator. AUVs constitute part of a larger group of undersea systems known as unmanned underwater vehicles, a classification tha ...

(AUV) developed by

Bluefin Robotics Bluefin Robotics is an American robotics company, headquartered in Quincy, Massachusetts, Quincy, Massachusetts, which specialises in the design and manufacture of military and civilian autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and related technolog ...

for defence, commercial or scientific use. It found its most famous use in April 2014 in the search for the wreckage of the missing

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370/MAS370) was an international passenger flight operated by Malaysia Airlines that disappeared from radar on 8 March 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia to its planned de ...

Design

The Bluefin-21 is

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

shaped and has interchangeable payload and battery components. This allows for the rapid deployment of the robot in time-bound missions. It has a modular design that can be adapted to carry a variety of sensors and payloads at one time, making it suitable for diverse deep-sea missions including

offshore survey Hydrographic survey is the science of measurement and description of features which affect maritime navigation, marine construction, dredging, offshore wind farms, offshore oil exploration and drilling and related activities. Surveys may als ...

, marine salvage detection, marine archeology survey,

oceanography Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of to ...

mine countermeasures A naval mine is a self-contained explosive weapon placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Similar to anti-personnel and other land mines, and unlike purpose launched naval depth charges, they are deposited and left ...

, and the detection of

unexploded ordnance Unexploded ordnance (UXO, sometimes abbreviated as UO) and unexploded bombs (UXBs) are explosive weapons (bombs, shell (projectile), shells, grenades, land mines, naval mines, cluster munition, and other Ammunition, munitions) that did not e ...

. It is said to take two hours to descend to the bottom of the ocean and a further two hours to surface, with the ability to search for sixteen hours. Bluefin-21 is powered by nine lithium-polymer batteries, each rated at . This allows the robot to reach a top speed of and an endurance of 25 hours at 3 knots.

Payload and navigation

The typical payload of the Bluefin-21 consists of an EdgeTech 2200-M

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...

, EdgeTech DW-216 sub-bottom profiler and Reson 7125 echoer. It can also be fitted with a Prosilica black and white camera. It has an onboard storage with a capacity of four

gigabytes The gigabyte () is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The prefix ''giga'' means 109 in the International System of Units (SI). Therefore, one gigabyte is one billion bytes. The unit symbol for the gigabyte is GB. This defin ...

using a flash memory and can be fitted with additional storage space. Bluefin-21 uses an

inertial navigation system An inertial navigation system (INS; also inertial guidance system, inertial instrument) is a navigation device that uses motion sensors (accelerometers), rotation sensors (gyroscopes) and a computer to continuously calculate by dead reckoning th ...

for navigation. In addition it uses an '' ultrashort baseline system'' (USBL) for more accuracy.

Notable uses

Artemis, a Bluefin-21 owned by Phoenix International, was used aboard ADV ''Ocean Shield'' in the search for the wreck of

by mapping the

Zenith Plateau The Zenith Plateau is a large bathymetry, bathymetric high in the Indian Ocean, located about west-northwest of the Wallaby Plateau, west-northwest of Carnarvon, Western Australia, and north-west of Perth, Western Australia. The summit of the Ze ...

with a

side-scan sonar Side-scan sonar (also sometimes called side scan sonar, sidescan sonar, side imaging sonar, side-imaging sonar and bottom classification sonar) is a category of sonar system that is used to efficiently create an image of large areas of the sea ...

, mapping 90 square kilometres a day. On its fifth mission, Artemis reached a depth of after failing to find any wreckage in the previous attempts. It is believed to have cost 1 million USD for this mission alone. On 22 April, it was reported that Artemis was on its ninth mission. Artemis was used on 25 missions over 21 operational days, accumulating 370 hours of search time while covering 250 square miles.As Technology Matures, New Roles Emerge for Underwater Drones
- Nationaldefensemagazine.org, September 2014

Specifications

The specifications of the Bluefin-21 are: * Length: * Diameter: * Weight (dry): (buoyancy weight * Maximum speed: * Endurance: 25 hours at 3 knots * Depth rating: * Energy capacity: 9 × lithium polymer batteries each rated at * Total energy capacity:

References

External links