Underwater applications of light emitting diodes

This paper describes a conceptual system to assist an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) land on an underwater docking station, and transfer energy to the vehicle to enable underwater battery charging. The system consists of light emitting diodes (LEDs) mounted on the docking station, and optical sensors and photovoltaic (PV) cells onboard the vehicle. The combination of sensors onboard the AUV and the docking station LEDs will allow the vehicle to estimate the relative position of the intended docking location. Once the vehicle has landed on the docking station, the combination of the LEDs and the PV cells allows the battery onboard the vehicle to be charged without any physical contact.