Unmanned Systems Technology 026 I Tecdron TC800-FF I Propellers I USVs I AUVSI 2019 part 1 I Robby Moto UAVE I Singular Aircraft FlyOx I Teledyne SeaRaptor I Simulation & Testing I Ocean Business 2019 report

80 F ollowing incidents such as the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 in March 2014, governments and rescue organisations around the world have realised that the technological capabilities for deep-sea search and recovery need to be better. As a result, Teledyne, which has produced and operated the Gavia AUV for 20 years (via its subsidiary Teledyne Gavia), has witnessed a growing demand for a UUV that can dive and survey much deeper than the typical 1000 m rating for AUVs. The company therefore began designing its largest AUV yet, capable of operating down to 3000-6000 m, and in a separate development it won a tender from an undisclosed customer in late 2017 that closely matched what the design team at Teledyne Gavia was already working on. The terms of the tender gave the company 18 months to deliver what would eventually become the Teledyne SeaRaptor. “18 months is a short cycle for design, production and delivery, when you consider that the lead times for many AUV components are around six to nine months,” says Stefan Reynisson, general manager of Teledyne Gavia and project manager for the SeaRaptor. “But we had a very good idea from the outset of what we wanted to achieve with the SeaRaptor, and leveraged a lot of our experience with the Gavia AUV to accelerate its development.” That meant using much of the same software architecture as the Gavia (particularly for autonomy and mission planning), with the principal development work for the SeaRaptor focusing on establishing the new vehicle’s mechanics, electronics and sensor architecture. “For example, we actually had to Rory Jackson explains how this AUV was designed and engineered to survey some of the deepest parts of the world’s oceans Deep-sea diver June/July 2019 | Unmanned Systems Technology