Review of Autonomous Undersea Vehicle (AUV) Developments 
Figure 22. ABE 
As presently configured, ABE's principal data are CTD, magnetometer, bathymetry, and 
monochrome stereo image pairs of the bottom at selected locations. The image recording 
system has been designed and built in collaboration with Electronic Imaging Systems, Ltd. of 
Oxford, England. The imaging system is capable of supporting as many CCD cameras as 
desired with resolutions up to 1Kx1K. Cameras may be of different types and resolutions. They 
may be in separate housings and may be aimed in different directions for different missions. 
The system captures all images simultaneously from a single photoflash. Currently, two 
downward-pointing monochrome cameras are installed for stereo imaging. Each provides an 
image resolution of 576x768 pixels with a dynamic range of 8 bits. The images are stored 
digitally on two hard disks. The current disks can store approximately 4500 image planes (one 
color image has three planes while each monochrome has only one). They can be upgraded to 
provide more images than any researcher would want, limited mainly by system power 
consumption from the vehicle's batteries. 
ABE is powered by rechargeable, gelled lead-acid batteries to facilitate testing and reduce cost. 
Even with these batteries, ABE could travel over 50 kilometers in a straight line. In any real 
mission, however, the energy required to maneuver, operate sensors, and power the flash will 
limit the range to a fraction of this value. For a long mission, alkaline batteries could be used for 
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