The Maya AUV belongs to a class of small autonomous underwater vehicles[1] that have been gaining popularity in marine application areas such as oceanography, monitoring the coastal environment, as well as in naval applications such as mapping of naval mines for mine countermeasures.
The vehicle has an endurance of 7.2 hours,[2] a total length of approximately 1.7 m, a diameter of 0.234 m with a slender-ellipsoid nose that is free-flooding and houses scientific payloads.[3] The nose-cone is designed to be swappable to use alternate scientific sensors depending upon the application. The main pressurized hull of the AUV is rated to 200m depth operations and houses the electronics, navigation sensors, batteries as well as the actuators for the rudders and fins. The AUV is propelled by a single rear thruster in the aft section which also houses a mast for the GPS and communication antennae. Navigation sensors include a Doppler Velocity Log and a MEMS Inertial Measurement Unit. The vehicle weighs approximately 54 kg in air, with the main hull built from an aluminum alloy. It is powered by lithium polymer batteries and has a nominal speed of 1.5 m/s.[4]
