LAUV: The Man-Portable Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

The global market offers an extensive catalog of commercial Autonomous Underwater Vehicles with different shapes, sizes and capabilities. This paper addresses the innovative concept which led to the development of a new commercial AUV product to compete in such a dynamic market. The LAUV was planned to be a lightweight vehicle that can be easily launched, operated and recovered with a minimal operational setup by end-users having heterogeneous backgrounds and without any complex prior training or know-how. Details of the design, installed components, sensors, sonars and operational field results, are discussed herein. The system has been deployed and operated in different environments for different objectives accumulating hundreds of successful real-world missions.