During the 12th Five-Year Plan, HEU will be coordinating the project “Key Technology of Full Range Bathymetry Unmanned Submersible AUV” within the framework of National Flagship R&D Plan “Key deep sea technologies and equipment”. A full-range bathometry deep sea AUV equipped with highly integrated verification system will be developed and planned to visit the world's largest ocean depths Mariana trench. On November 23rd, 2017, the project kickoff meeting was held in the college of Shipbuilding Engineering.

In response to the national needs for deep sea science and technology, especially deep sea survey technology, the project “Key Technology of Full Range Bathymetry Unmanned Submersible AUV” aims to takes on the technologies in hazard perception and decision making system for deep sea AUVs, pressure resisting large shells, high-speed bilateral short-distance underwater acoustic communication, single beacon acoustic positioning, multiple levels of redundancy safe self-rescue and intelligent safe operation. The project will develop the integrated verification system for full-range bathymetry AUV and a visit to 11000m of depth at the Mariana trench is scheduled for the year of 2020. At present, there is no precedent for the detection and operation of AUV in the world. The research will provide the important technical supports to China's 11,000-meter deep sea exploration, science exploration and scientific expeditions covering the whole depths of the sea.