AVEXIS—Aqua Vehicle Explorer for In-Situ Sensing

Abstract

The AVEXIS (aqua vehicle explorer for in-situ sensing) underwater vehicles have been developed to allow characterization and monitoring of hazardous underwater environments with limited access points. A number of forms of the vehicle are being developed to assist in the decommissioning of the Sellafield nuclear facilities in Cumbria, U.K. The vehicles have been designed to be low-cost and have been constructed using novel manufacturing methods, such as 3D printing, which allows them to be built quickly and adds a high level of flexibility to the design. An acoustic communications and positioning system has also been developed which can be integrated into the vehicle or used as a stand-alone system which can be retrofitted onto existing vehicles.