China has tested a new Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) for monitoring the marine environment in the South China Sea, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
The AUV, Haijing 2000, was developed by the Shenyang Institute of Automation under the CAS.
It has continuously travelled for 37 days during the sea trial covering more than 2,000km, which verified its long endurance and system reliability.
Weighing about 200kg, it can reach a depth of up to 1,500 metres and travel at a maximum speed of one metre per second.
Equipped with several physical and biochemical sensors such as a current profiler and turbidity metres, it can work in several navigation modes and an autonomous observation mode to conduct dynamic observations of different marine environments.
