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AUTONOMOUS
UNDERWATER
VEHICLE

Varuna 4.0 transforms underwater exploration with cutting-edge autonomous engineering.

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200m depth rating
2 competitions
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01 — OVERVIEW

Built to Dive Deep

Varuna 4.0 is DTU AUV's flagship autonomous underwater vehicle — a modular, research-grade platform engineered for international competitions like RoboSub and SAUVC.

  • Fully autonomous mission execution
  • Advanced AI-powered perception
  • Modular, competition-ready design
  • 200m depth rating with dual O-ring seals
02 — MECHANICAL

Precision Frame

CNC-machined 6061-T6 aluminium frame with anodised finish. Modular rail system enables rapid reconfiguration between competition tasks.

  • Acrylic pressure hull — dual O-ring sealed
  • Tool-less modular rail swap system
  • Optimised buoyancy & ballast trim
6061-T6Aluminium
200mDepth
~35 kgDry Weight
03 — ELECTRONICS

Neural Core

NVIDIA Jetson Orin handles real-time AI inference while STM32 microcontrollers manage low-level motor and sensor control loops at 1 kHz.

  • Custom power distribution board
  • Overcurrent & reverse polarity protection
  • 48V Li-Po, ~3 hr runtime
Jetson OrinCompute
STM32MCU
48VBattery
04 — SOFTWARE

Autonomous Brain

Full ROS 2 autonomy stack with YOLOv8-based underwater object detection, acoustic pinger localisation, DVL-aided navigation, and PID-controlled thruster allocation.

  • Mission state machine with fallback logic
  • Stereo vision + mono downward camera
  • DVL-aided dead reckoning navigation
ROS 2Framework
YOLOv8Detection
PIDControl
05 — PROPULSION

8-Thruster Array

Eight Blue Robotics T200 thrusters in a vectored configuration provide full 6-DOF control — surge, sway, heave, roll, pitch and yaw.

  • Vectored layout for omnidirectional movement
  • Precision station-keeping capability
  • Optimised for low-noise underwater ops
8×T200 Thrusters
5.1 kgfPer Thruster
6 DOFControl
01 / 05
06 — TECHNICAL DATA

Full Specifications

Vehicle Name Varuna 4.0
Organisation DTU AUV, Delhi Technological University
Type Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV)
Dimensions (L × W × H) 75 cm × 50 cm × 45 cm
Dry Weight ~35 kg
Frame Material 6061-T6 Aluminium, Anodised
Pressure Hull Acrylic Cylinder, Dual O-Ring Sealed
Depth Rating 200 m
Thrusters 8 × Blue Robotics T200
DOF 6 (Surge, Sway, Heave, Roll, Pitch, Yaw)
Max Thrust (per unit) 5.1 kgf forward / 4.1 kgf reverse
Compute — Primary NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano
Compute — Low-level STM32F4 Microcontroller
Battery 48V Li-Po, 18 Ah (custom pack)
Runtime ~3 hours continuous
Cameras 2 × Front Stereo + 1 × Bottom Mono
IMU Vectornav VN-100 (9-axis)
Depth Sensor Bar30 High-Res Pressure Sensor
DVL Water Linked DVL A50
Acoustics 4-element Hydrophone Array + DSP
OS / Framework Ubuntu 22.04 + ROS 2 Humble
Object Detection YOLOv8 (custom underwater dataset)
Navigation DVL-aided Dead Reckoning + IMU Fusion
Kill Switch Magnetic + Software (competition-compliant)
Competitions RoboSub (AUVSI) & SAUVC (Singapore)
07 — SUBSYSTEMS

Architecture Overview

Mechanical

CNC-machined frame, modular rail system, acrylic pressure hull, custom thruster mounts, waterproof connectors.

Electrical

Custom PDB, ESC drivers, 48V battery management, sensor interface boards, kill-switch circuit.

Software

ROS 2 nodes for perception, planning, control. YOLOv8 detection, PID thruster allocation, mission state machine.

Vision

Stereo camera rig, underwater colour correction, real-time object tracking, gate/buoy/bin detection pipeline.

Acoustics

4-hydrophone array, TDOA pinger localisation, DSP filtering pipeline, frequency discrimination.

Navigation

DVL-aided dead reckoning, IMU sensor fusion, depth-hold, heading-hold, waypoint following.

For more detailed information about Varuna 4.0's design, engineering, and competition performance, download the full technical document.

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