Distributed Underwater Jet Propulsion Based Maneuverable Rudderless AUV: Design Fabrication and Testing

Underwater vehicles are an important technical means for the development and utilization of marine resources. With the continuous deepening of marine development, the application scenarios of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) have been further expanded to offshore areas with dense reefs, narrow and turbid pipeline caves, and environments that require precise mechanical operation and attitude control. Traditional propeller and rudder control systems face severe challenges such as insufficient maneuverability and susceptibility to underwater object entanglement and failure. To meet the needs of AUV for propulsion and attitude control in complex application scenarios, a distributed jet propulsion method is proposed in this paper. In this study, a prototype of distributed jet propulsion based maneuverable rudderless AUV was designed and built, which realized the multi-degree-of-freedom pose adjustment of AUV, and verified the superior mobility and reliability of distributed jet propulsion.