HAVELSAN is introducing its new-generation autonomous underwater vehicle AVISTA to the public for the first time at TEKNOFEST Mavi Vatan. The platform is designed as an AUV for both defense and civilian underwater missions.
Precise underwater navigation without GNSS
Because GNSS/GPS signals do not propagate underwater, localization of autonomous vehicles is a key engineering challenge. One of AVISTA’s main goals is to provide an integrated underwater positioning system that fuses multiple sensor sources, likely including:
- inertial navigation (IMU)
- depth and heading sensors
- acoustic/sonar-based ranging
- environmental data collected during the mission
Using this data, the vehicle is designed to both estimate its own pose and build a 3D map of the underwater environment, potentially via SLAM-like algorithms.
Ports, ship hulls and infrastructure
Planned use cases for AVISTA include:
- mapping port basins and navigation corridors
- ship hull inspection below the waterline and damage detection
- inspection of underwater pipelines and energy infrastructure
- protection of critical underwater facilities and integrated security missions
For such tasks, AUVs enable continuous patrol and automated inspection in conditions where divers or ROVs would be costly or risky.
Search & rescue and civilian missions
HAVELSAN highlights that AVISTA is not limited to defense roles. It can be used for underwater search and rescue, locating sunken objects, and forensic investigations where detailed visual and sonar records are required.
Building on experience from its unmanned surface craft SANCAR and RAFNAR, HAVELSAN is extending its unmanned maritime systems portfolio into the underwater domain with AVISTA. The project is positioned as an R&D platform that can underpin future AUV/ROV developments and more advanced underwater autonomy capabilities.
Source: ShiftDelete (TR)
