Jg. Hawley et al., ADVANCED UNDERWATER POWER-SYSTEMS, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Part A, Journal of power and energy, 208(A1), 1994, pp. 37-45
The defence, commercial and scientific communities are all aware of th
e strategic importance that the oceans hold. Future underwater operati
ons are under evaluation using autonomous ocean-ranging submersibles o
f the unmanned variety. Such vessels are commonly termed autonomous un
derwater vehicles (AUVs), and the search for suitable power systems th
at are able to provide high reliability coupled with long underwater d
urations has intensified over the last decade. This paper presents a r
eview of those power systems that are under consideration, design and
development, mainly for the A U V application. No attempt is made by t
he authors to directly compare individual systems, as this can only be
effectively undertaken once a well-defined vehicle and associated mis
sion profile has been defined.