AUV Mullaya Arrives at Australian Maritime College

AMC has welcomed the arrival of the autonomous underwater vehicle Mullaya, which will be used as a research tool to investigate the hydrodynamics and control of underwater vehicles.

The AUV will be based at the college until December 2018 under an agreement with its owners, the Defense Science Technology Group.

Dr. Zhi Leong with Mullaya. Credit: AMC

AMC postdoctoral researcher Dr. Zhi Leong said the agreement would help expand learning opportunities for engineering researchers and students.

“The Mullaya is a high-end research dedicated vehicle. It will allow us to explore control algorithms and hydrodynamic maneuvering characterization, which are often limited with commercial-based vehicles,” he said.

AUVs can be programmed to survey the underwater environment and collect scientific data on research missions.

The Mullaya is a torpedo-shaped, 1.5 meter-long aluminum robot that can operate in either remote (tethered) or autonomous (untethered) mode.

It is capable of exploring to a depth of 30 meters underwater at an average speed of 3 knots per hour for up to three hours at a time.

The Mullaya joins AMC’s fleet of autonomous robots including the UBC-Gavia and soon-to-be commissioned Antarctic Gateway Partnership AUV.

Construction has started on a new, world-class AUV Facility to centralize the research team and their resources and build upon AMC’s underwater robotic research capabilities.