Unmanned submersible enters the sea, adding another weapon for deep-sea exploration

Unmanned submersibles are an important tool for deep-sea exploration and operations, providing necessary assistance for humans to march into the deep sea and develop deep-sea resources. Our country has made many outstanding achievements in the research and development of unmanned submersibles, an important marine equipment. For example, the "Haidou" autonomous/remotely controlled composite submersible has a maximum diving depth of 10,767m, making my country the third country in the world with the ability to develop 10,000-meter unmanned submersibles; the "Exploration 1000" intelligent unmanned submersible has achieved A breakthrough in the application of polar ocean observations.

In recent years, with the support of national key research and development plans, my country's unmanned submersible technology has continued to emerge with new breakthroughs. The successful test of the "Qilin" is a symbol of my country's realization of the dual use of unmanned submersibles for deep-sea cruising and seabed crawling. As a new concept deep-sea working platform, the deep-sea crawling hybrid unmanned submersible combines the high efficiency and wide-range maneuverability of unmanned autonomous vehicles with the precise mobile positioning capabilities of remote-controlled vehicles. It can operate at close range in complex deep sea environments. It plays an important role in accurate and stable observation and auxiliary operations, providing new equipment and means for marine resource exploration and seabed environment monitoring.

In terms of energy supply, "Qilin" is driven by high-performance batteries. In terms of motion control, through the underwater multi-legged crawling and stable cruising control software developed for it by the 719th Institute, the "Qilin" can not only be remotely controlled by researchers, but also achieve intelligent autonomous actions. In terms of detection capabilities, during the test, the "Qilin" mainly obtained high-definition images and seabed target detection data through its own camera and sonar equipment. It also sampled seabed simulated targets and water bodies.

The dual use of sea cruising and seabed crawling gives the "Qilin" better stability and environmental adaptability during observation and sampling, and has important scientific research and application value. It is reported that the project lasted for 5 years. From the conceptual plan, principle prototype, intermediate test prototype to the final sea trial engineering prototype, it went through multiple rounds of iterative development and design optimization, and underwent multiple test verifications and technical research. This reflects my country's great efforts in the research and development of intelligent unmanned submersibles.
 

With the gradual shortage of land and offshore resources, the development of deep-sea resources is the only way to go, and the scientific development of deep-sea resources requires deep-sea exploration first. Intelligent unmanned submersibles have become an important piece of equipment for the world's maritime powers to compete for development. The successful entry of the "Kilin" into the sea has added another domestic weapon for my country's deep-sea exploration. However, the current technological progress is still not enough for the current needs of ocean exploration.

　(Original title: "Kilin" enters the sea, adding another weapon for deep-sea exploration)