Autonomous underwater vehicle and corresponding guidance method

An autonomous underwater vehicle, said vehicle comprising a housing which includes:

• a system for driving and steering the vehicle making it possible to move and steer the vehicle in the water;
• a navigation system making it possible to control the system for driving and steering the vehicle in order to control the movement of the vehicle toward a recovery base which comprises an acoustic transmitter;
• a measuring system comprising three acceleration or speed sensors on axes that are different to one another, making it possible to receive seismic waves to generate corresponding seismic data;
• a processing unit configured to operate in a seismic acquisition mode in which the processing unit generates seismic data from the seismic waves received;
• a system for storing the seismic data;
• wherein at least two of said sensors of said measuring system which are capable of receiving seismic waves are also capable of receiving acoustic guidance waves emitted by the acoustic transmitter of the base;
• and
• the processing unit is also configured to be able, when the vehicle is decoupled from the floor of the seabed, to operate in a movement guidance mode according to which the processing unit is configured to:
• determine the direction of the acoustic guidance waves emitted by the acoustic transmitter of the base which are received by said at least two sensors of said measuring system;
• generate and transmit to the navigation system guidance data relating to the determined direction of the acoustic waves received,
• the navigation system being configured to control the system for driving and steering the vehicle as a function of the guidance data so as to guide the movement of the vehicle toward the base.