I’m working on an autonomous drone when capacity allows (which in practice means on and off at irregular times).
I have purchased six Nanomodem V3 (NM3) acoustic modems that can be used both for communication (1-to-1 and swarm) and positioning (needs 3 modems with known position).
These modems are developed by a team at Newcastle University in UK and sold by Succorfish.com.
The intention is also to use OAK-D depth cameras with embedded AI processing to assist in the autonomy. We might need to use other camera sensors than the standard to get better low light sensitivity.
Depending on the task/conditions we might be able to operate using cameras and acoustic communication/positioning only, but a DVL and multibeam sonar is most likely also needed.
The shape of the drone will be more like an AUV than a ROV, but with enough thrusters to achieve freedom of movement similar to ROVs when needed.
To ensure long operation times, the battery is large compared to the total size/weight. I have built a 1.7kWh battery for initial tests, but it might be extended if we see that it greatly expands possibilities with few downsides.
A high capacity inductive charging solution is also being developed to enable subsurface charging of the drone for long deployments.