| The autonomous profiling float is freely descent and ascent in the water. Because of its nature of secrecy, easy to deploy, small volume, light weight, moving is slow and low manufacturing cost, it can be used for long-term and continuous ocean observations and underwater safety monitoring. This paper introduces ocean observations with the global Argo array and summarizes the development history of autonomous profiling floats and the present research status at home and abroad. According to the fact that the domestic autonomous profiling floats cannot meet the needs of modern ocean observations, the “FUXING” autonomous profiling floats of working depths beyond 2,000 meters are designed to fill the domestic gap. The variable buoyancy engine adjusts buoyancy by changing itself volume. The spherical glass made of borosilicate is used as a pressure housing. It has sufficient capacity to load CTD, dissolved oxygen sensor and others. The floats can hovering at setting depth. Satellites determine its position at the sea surface, and the floats transmit their data and receive control command by the satellites. At present, the engineering prototype successfully passed some test in the laboratory, the South China Sea, and the Western Pacific, verifying a number of functional indicators such as pressure housing seal, buoyancy regulation, communication control, and overall reliability and stability. And successfully descend to 4000m to lay the foundation for the gradual realization of full depth work. |
