Wireless Underwater Power Transfer for AUVs: Optimization via Metamaterials

The purpose of our work is to develop a means for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) to recharge their batteries on the sea-floor, thus extending their active mission times. We will prepare a computational tool to assist us in designing and testing methods of inductive wireless power transfer using novel configurations of metamaterial, magnetic-field lenses. The optimal design will be validated through experimentation and tests with model and full-scale devices. Under-sea recharging will reduce the deployment/retrieval cycles for AUVs to enable and improve environmental investigations; oil and gas industry piping infrastructure inspection; and military security tasks.