Redundant and reconfigurable propulsion systems to improve motion capability of underwater vehicles

Inspection of offshore plants or harsh marine environments, requires underwater vehicles with high autonomy, performances and maneuverability. These features are deeply affected by the design of propulsion system. An accurate design of the propulsion system, involves the modelling of the response of propellers. In this work a reconfigurable propulsion layout for an inspection vehicle is presented. Performances of the proposed solution are evaluated and compared respect to the conventional one which is currently installed on benchmark test vehicle (the MARTA AUV from University of Florence). Proposed layout exhibit superior maneuvering performances that should be useful for the inspection of offshore plants and more generally for harsh operational conditions.