AUV developer Teledyne Marine and Rutgers University, New Jersey have deployed a next-gen version of Teledyne’s Slocum Sentinel Glider, rebranded the Sentinel Redwing, on a mission to circumnavigate the globe. The Sentinel Mission, hailed by the partners as a “world first”, will see the drone undertake the 73,000km journey over a total of five years, starting and ending in Massachusetts and incorporating several legs along the way.
During its trip, the Sentinel Redwing will gather data related to ocean currents and sea temperature. When the glider surfaces every eight to 12 hours, it will send this data, via satellite and in real time, over the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) global monitoring system. “This data is intended to help refine weather models, improve hurricane intensity forecasting and inform ocean policy and conservation efforts,” Teledyne says.
The Sentinel Redwing measures 2.57m in length and 330mm in diameter, and has a sensor payload capacity of up to 3.5kg. The AUV can dive down to 1,000m and uses gravity and buoyancy to propel itself forward at an average speed of 0.75-1knots.
Rutgers University students helped to programme the Sentinel Redwing’s navigation software. The ‘Redwing’ is an acronym for ‘Research & Education Doug Webb Inter-National Glider’, so named in honour of Teledyne Webb Research glider inventor Doug Webb, who died last year.
