Center purpose
Underwater Vehicle Research & Development Center is a research center at NSYSU.
The center intends to collaborate with the Manned Underwater Vehicle Research and Development League, which includes Taiwan Ocean Research Institute, Chung Cheng Institute of Technology (National Defense University), Jong Shyn Shipbuilding Group, Taiwan CSBC Corporation, and Metal Industries R&D Center, to develop technology and applications for underwater vehicles, as well as cultivate talent in this field. Furthermore, the center aims to enhance the technical capabilities of national marine energy applications such as offshore wind power, the power of ocean currents, and the investigation of mineral resources in the sea. Based on these research findings, the center could also assist in military operations, military exploration, and underwater rescue.
Center Vision
Considering the national marine energy projects, such as marine research, ocean investigation, and undersea rescue, which require works in different environments and depths, the best and growing tendency for researchers, scientists, operators, and workers to investigate the ocean is through the use of underwater vehicles. However, marine exploration devices and vehicles have been imported for a long time, and as a result, maintenance and repair often rely on foreign assistance. The imported devices and equipment are not only expensive, but also require a long period of maintenance and repairs. Once sent back for maintenance and repair, research is suspended and falls behind schedule.
With the support of the National Science and Technology Council, NSYSU has developed various autonomous underwater vehicles with multiple functions, such as underwater cameras, hydrological surveys, marine topography mapping, and sample collection, which can work at high pressures of up to 4,000 meters seawater. The development of underwater vehicles involves many fields of professional knowledge, such as mechanics, electrical engineering, electronics, information engineering, communication engineering, optics, acoustics, and oceanography.
NSYSU combines the professional knowledge of electrical engineering and marine science and cooperates with the Manned Underwater Vehicle R&D League to design and develop manned submersibles. In 2006, NSYSU built its first self-made autonomous underwater vehicle, which became the spotlight of the national energy program in 2016. In 2017, NSYSU's self-made underwater vehicles carried out underwater video recording for more than 300 hours, breaking the domestic record. So far, a large amount of research materials, such as seabed geology, ecology, and ocean mineral resources, have been collected.。
Confronted with the limitations of national marine energy exploration, NSYSU established the Underwater Vehicle R&D Center and joined the Manned Underwater Vehicle R&D League. This project will be divided into stages to design and develop a manned underwater vehicle. With the aid of academia and industry collaboration, the Underwater Vehicle R&D Center aims to build the first manned submersible capable of working at 1,000 meters undersea. This project not only contributes to marine scientific research and engineering, but also to the revitalization of the marine economy, such as the exploration of methane ice, offshore wind power, and the investigation of ocean mineral resources. With these ambitions, we are determined to build the first manned submersible within 5 years.