Report Scope:
This report encompasses the current status and future prospects of the four types of AUVs: portable, lightweight, heavyweight and large vehicles. It looks at six application segments: search and salvage; inspection, maintenance, repair of offshore oil and gas pipelines; military and defense; hydrographic surveys; scientific research; and deep-sea mining. It covers four regions: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and rest of world (ROW).
The report identifies and evaluates those AUV markets with high growth potential. It also quantifies the important market developments for the sensors used in AUVs.
The report also covers the many issues concerning the future prospects for the AUV technologies business, and covers in detail the corporate strategies and key economic and technological issues.
For many of the main players in the AUV market, their competitive position is practically guaranteed due to protected and patented technologies used by OEMs. The companies that sell AUVs on the international market include Kongsberg Maritime, Hydroid (now a wholly owned subsidiary of Kongsberg Maritime), Bluefin Robotics (now a subsidiary of General Dynamics Mission Systems), Teledyne Gavia (previously known as Hafmynd), International Submarine Engineering (ISE) Ltd., Atlas Elektronik and OceanScan.
Manufacturers of AUVs for each sector must adhere to standards conforming to each targeted user country and follow statutory and mandatory guidelines for acceptance. The U.S., Europe and Japan have stringent standards concerning AUVs in targeted applications.
Estimated values used are based on manufacturers’ total revenues. Projected and forecasted revenue values are in constant U.S. dollars, unadjusted for inflation.
Report Includes:
- 67 data tables and 37 additional tables
- An overview of the global markets and technologies for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs)
- Analyses of global market trends, with data from 2016 and 2017, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2022
- Specific information on the major types of AUV architecture, features, and technology
- Segmentation of the market based on technology type, end user, application, and geography
- A detailed patent analysis, especially pertaining to new developments
- Coverage of the purchasing trends, acceptance of new technologies, product shortcomings, unmet needs, and other information regarding market dynamics
- Company profiles of major players in the industry, including Klein Marine Systems, Inc., National Oceanography Centre, Phoenix International Holdings Inc., iXBlue and International Submarine Engineering Ltd.
Table of Contents
Executive Summary
An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a robot that travels underwater without requiring input from an operator. AUVs constitute part of a larger group of undersea systems known as unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), a classification that includes non-autonomous remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs), which are controlled and powered from the surface by an operator/pilot via an umbilical or by using remote control. In military applications, an AUV is more often referred to as unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV). Underwater gliders are a subclass of AUVs.Field-resident AUV systems will see increasing deployment in the inspection of oil- and gas-producing companies’ subsea assets, where they will lead to earlier detection of problems. This will lead to a reduction in downtime for field maintenance, and of course better stewardship of the environment.
The underwater environment is extremely challenging for robots. Counterintuitive hydrodynamics response, poor visual capabilities, complex sonar interactions, communications inaccessibility and power endurance are significant design constraints. Robot builders do provide stable control and reliable operation at all times due to the unacceptably high cost of failure. A variety of artificial intelligence (AI) processes must be incorporated for planning, sensing and other complex tasks.
AUVs are fast becoming accepted as highly useful data gathering platforms within the worldwide marine science community, as both the range and depth envelopes are being pushed by developments in battery technology, propulsive efficiency and pressure vessel technologies. It is already accepted that AUVs can provide substantial benefits in data quality and cost, in, for example, geophysical surveys for oil and gas exploration. But within the science community there is the perception that AUVs are expensive, complex and risky to use.
AUVs are preferable to conventional towed instruments because they can cover large areas without constant monitoring. Additionally, they do not require large surface vehicles to launch them or trained operators on board to pilot them. Moreover, AUVs offer a flexible alternative to traditional surface vessels and have the capability to glide close to the surface, dive to varying depths to gather high-resolution remote spatial and temporal measurements, and hover in hazardous areas where navigation is difficult. AUVs have reduced the high costs of ocean exploration and sampling while increasing the availability, quality and quantity of scientific marine data.
This report considers the prospective demand for AUVs in the commercial, military and research sectors over the next five years. Highest growth is expected to come from the commercial sector, which will enable a wide range of applications to emerge in the offshore oil and gas industry (life-of-field, pipeline inspections and rig moves), as well as in civil hydrography, in addition to existing pipeline route surveys. Regional market data suggest that North America will continue to dominate global AUV expenditures, which will predominantly come from military unmanned technology. Africa and Latin America are forecast to experience the highest growth, driven by deep-water oil and gas activities in pre-salt areas. Demand in Asia will be come from varied sources, such as research activities in Japan, deep-water expenditures in India, Indonesia and Malaysia, and military investments in China
Companies Mentioned
- 2G Robotics Inc.
- ACSA
- Allied Vision Technologies
- Atlas Maridan Aps
- Boston Engineering Corp.
- Deepocean Group
- Deepwater Buoyancy
- Develogic Gmbh
- ECA Robotics
- Edgetech
- Eiva A/S
- Evologics Gmbh
- Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies And ImaGE Exploitation
- Fugro N.V.
- Gabri S.R.L.
- Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc.
- Hydroid Inc.
- International Submarine Engineering Ltd.
- Ixblue Inc.
- Kearfott Corp.
- Klein Marine Systems Inc.
- Kongsberg Maritime As
- Kraken Robotics Inc.
- Linkquest Inc.
- Lockheed Martin
- Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co., Ltd
- National Oceanography Centre
- Norwegian Defence Research Establishment
- Oceaneering International
- Oceanscan-Mst
- Oceanserver Technology Inc.
- Optimal Ranging
- Paroscientific Inc.
- PCO AG
- Phoenix International Holdings Inc.
- Phoenix Marine Company Inc.
- Prevco Subsea LLC
- Sea-Bird Scientific
- Seebyte
- Subsea 7
- Swire Seabed As
- Teledyne Marine
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
- Ysi Integrated Systems & Services Inc.
