Discussion and prospects of the system architecture of deep-sea mineral lifting autonomous transportation system

Deep-sea mineral resources, with their vast reserves and strategic value, have become a global focus for resource development. Yet existing transportation systems face critical limitations: poor inter-medium synergy, inadequate adaptability to extreme environments, and exorbitant operational costs. To address these challenges, this study proposes an unmanned transportation system architecture for deep-sea mineral lifting, tailored to 6000-m operational depths. This architecture integrates four core modules—unmanned carrier equipment, communication network systems, an intelligent scheduling center, and support systems—guided by the design philosophy of “unmanned vehicles-intelligent collaborative execution-adaptive scheduling with dynamic regulation”. It achieves synergistic breakthroughs in flexible architecture, intelligent control, and modular design through a multi-dimensional “air-sea-seabed” collaborative framework, incorporating key technologies such as deep-sea buoyancy-driven propulsion, precision docking mechanisms, integrated communication and positioning systems, and digital twin-based operations. These innovations effectively ensure mineral transport efficiency and system reliability, offering a novel conceptual approach and critical technical support for building intelligent transportation systems in deep-sea mineral exploitation.