New Thruster System Advances AUV Agility & Reliability

Tiburon Subsea Inc. has been granted a Patent for their innovative JETTE propulsion system for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV). 

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has allowed Tiburon Subsea’s application for U.S. Patent No. 12,365,432, with foreign patents pending. The patent covers the JETTE “Vector Control Assemblies for Underwater Vehicles,” enabling retrofit kits that improve the maneuverability and reliability of existing AUVs and subsea drones.

Using only two custom thrusters, this control technology enables underwater drones to: stop and hover, vertically ascend and descend, move sideways, back up, or hold position in a fast-moving current. The new thruster design allows for increased maneuverability transforming torpedo-shaped AUVs into agile, five-direction craft for defense and commercial use.

Tiburon Subsea’s patented design can replace or be retrofitted to a vehicle’s external control hardware with two shrouded pods, one forward, one aft, whose internal vectored jets redirect water flow instantaneously. Working in unison, the pods deliver full five-degree-of-freedom control while preserving the vehicle’s hydrodynamic form.

Incorporating this new thruster assembly, an AUV can hover inches above the seabed while inspecting a pipeline, rock sideways along a harbor wall, or reverse into a submarine’s torpedo tube for recovery, all without the delicate external control planes and exposed propellers that continuously break or foul among debris and infrastructure. Tiburon Subsea’s JETTE system opens doors to faster mine counter-measure missions, safer port surveillance, and more precise offshore-wind surveys.

Tim Taylor, Tiburon Subsea CEO and Founder, stated, “This is a momentous time for our company. My vision for this technology has come to fruition and we have reached a pivotal milestone. I firmly believe that our thruster design will alter the current landscape of how we work with AUV’s and take AUV technology to the next level.”

The company is currently in talks with the US Navy, prime defense contractors, and investors who see the potential surge of capabilities this new technology can deliver.