ZARCO { AN AUTONOMOUS CRAFT FOR UNDERWATER SURVEYS (original) (raw)

Development of Autonomous Surface Vessels for Hydrographic Survey Applications

2016

Autonomously navigating surface vessels have a variety of potential applications for ocean mapping. The use of small vessels for coastal mapping is investigated through development of hardware and software that form a complete system for survey operations. The hardware is selected to minimize cost while providing flexibility for installation on different platforms. MOOS-IvP open-source autonomy software enables independent operation of the vessel and provides for human monitoring. Custom applications allow the sensors and actuators of the hardware platforms to interface with MOOS-IvP. An autonomy behavior is developed that replicates current human driven survey acquisition, in which the boat plans paths automatically to achieve full survey coverage with a swath sonar system. With initial input of a survey boundary and depths from the onboard sonar system, subsequent paths are planned to be offset based on the collected data. This behavior is tested in simulation and field experiments. A model reference adaptive control system for the heading of the vessel is investigated for improved reliability of vessel operation in a variety of conditions and over the full range of operation speeds. Simulations tests verify the adaptation of two types of controllers. A new method for speed control to increase endurance and decrease engine wear is also proposed and simulated. Together, these developments form an easily configurable system that provides automated hydrographic survey capability to a vessel with minimal human involvement for optimal performance.

Autonomous surface vessel for search and rescue operation

Bulletin of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, 2021

Search and rescue operation is performed to save human life, for example during natural disasters, unfortunate incidents on the land, in the deepwater, or lakes. There were incidents happened to the search and rescue crew during the operation although they were well trained. A new method using robotic technology is important to reduce the crew's risk during operations. This research proposed a development of an autonomous surface vessel for search and rescue operations for deepwater applications. The proposed autonomous surface vessel is equipped with a global positioning system (GPS) and underwater sensor to search for the victims, black box, debris, or other evidence on the surface and underwater. The vessel was designed with monitoring and control via radio frequency wireless communication. The autonomous surface vessel prototype was developed and tested successfully with the telemetry at the ground station. The ground station acts as the control centre of the overall system. Results showed the vessel successfully operated autonomously. The operator at the ground station was able to monitor the sensor data and control the vessel's manoeuvre according to the created path. The telemetry coverage to monitor the water surroundings and control the vessel's manoeuvre was around 100 meters.

A Low Cost System for Autonomous Surface Vehicle based Hydrographic Survey

2015

Use of autonomous vehicles for hydrographic surveying has been primarily limited to underwater systems with autonomous surface vehicles only recently entering routine use. Operation on the ocean surface simplifies position measurement, relaxes power limitations and reduces hull sealing, which reduces design costs for vehicles. However, the existing systems for autonomous command and control are often proprietary, expensive and designed for a single platform. The system developed at the Joint Hydrographic Center minimizes cost while maximizing functionality and flexibility by leveraging mass produced, open source hardware and software. Long range Wi-Fi is utilized for monitoring the autonomous operation vessel and provides the ability to natively interface onboard sonar systems with acquisition software. A hobby radio control system is used for remote human override. Onboard processing uses an embedded Linux platform running the open source MOOS-IvP autonomy framework. Sensor input a...

Autonomous surface craft: prototypes and basic research issues

2006

I. INTRODUCTION This paper will present an overview of the prototypes of autonomous surface craft (ASC) that have been developed, basically for research and military purposes, in the last decade. The fundamental research issues related to the development of ASC and their relationships with unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) technology will be discussed.

An Autonomous Boat Based Synthetic Aperture Sonar

2007

This paper describes a Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) system being developed at the University of Porto to be used in a small autonomous boat for the survey of shallow water environments, such as rivers, deltas, estuaries and dams. Its purpose is to obtain high resolution echo reflectivity maps through synthetic aperture techniques, taking advantage of the high precision navigation system of the boat. In the future the production of bottom tomography maps is also considered through the use of interferometric imaging techniques.

Development and Initial Testing of an Autonomous Surface Vehicle for Shallow Water Mapping

2015

Current technology offers variety of methods for underwater mapping a.k.a. bathymetry where Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) is used to complement the weakness of other bathymetry approach. In initializing the design of AquaDrone ASV, it started from deciding the specification of the ASV to draw a guideline of the prototype limit. The hull of the ASV was the first to be taken into consideration due to the measure of the vessel’s payload and stability. It was built with dual control modes which are the autonomous and the tele-operated mode with Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver and compass module to assist its localization and navigation. The ASV was then tested at swimming pool, ponds and lakes to analyze its performance on maneuvering, sensors fusion, data logging, and communication range. It was proved to be operational.

Autonomous Shallow Water Hydrographic Survey Using a Proto-Type USV

Journal of Marine Science and Engineering

Maritime unmanned systems (MUS) have gained widespread usage in a diverse range of hydrographic survey activities, including harbor/port surveys, beach and coastline monitoring, environmental assessment, and military operations. The present article explains a validated, rapid, and reliable technique for processing hydrographic data that was obtained via an autonomous hydrographic survey, and which was executed by a prototype unmanned surface vessel (USV) belonging to the Unmanned Survey Solutions (USS) corporation. The experimentation was part of the annual Multinational Exercise Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping that was augmented by Maritime Unmanned Systems 22 (REPMUS22), which was held in the national waters of Portugal. The main objective of this experimentation was to assess the underwater environment over an ocean beach for an amphibious landing exercise. Moreover, the integration of the multibeam system with the autonomous prototype vessel was assessed. A short compari...

Development of a control system for an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

2010 IEEE/OES Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, 2010

This work proposes the development of a control system for an autonomous underwater vehicle dedicated to the observation of the oceans. The vehicle, a hybrid between Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) and Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASV), moves on the surface of the sea and makes vertical immersions to obtain profiles of a water column, according to a pre-established plan. The displacement of the vehicle on the surface allows the navigation through GPS and telemetry communication by radio-modem. The vehicle is 2300mm long by 320mm wide. It weighs 85kg and reaches a maximum depth of 30m. A control system based on an embedded computer is designed and developed for this vehicle that allows a vehicle's autonomous navigation. This control system has been divided into navigation, propulsion, safety and data acquisition subsystems.

The Autonomous Pilot of Unmanned Surface Vessels

Unmanned Surface Vessels (USV) or (in some cases) Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASV) are boats that operate on the surface of the water without any crews [1]. USVs were earliest used in minesweeping applications [2], since then, advances in USV control systems and navigation technologies have been achieved which resulting in USVs that can be operated remotely (by an operator on land or on a nearby vessel) [3], USVs that operate with partially autonomous control, and USVs (ASVs) that operate fully autonomously [2]. Nowadays, they are also being used in commercial shipping [4], environmental and climate monitoring, seafloor mapping [4] [5], passenger ferries [6], robotic research [7], surveillance, inspection of bridges and other infrastructure [8], military, naval operations [2] and et cetera, thanks to the advances in USV control systems and navigation technologies.