EPAULARD - AUV for photographic & bathymetric survey

EPAULARD, manufactured in 1980, was the first unmanned underwater vehicle of the world diving to 6000m with an autonomy of several hours.

It has been designed for photographic and bathymetric survey of seabeds.

It navigates at constanct altitude over the sea-bed, remote-controlled by means of acoustic commands and tracked by an ultrashort baseline system. A vertical thruster allows it to pass over obstacles.