Autonomous Surface Vehicle

Dareni Farrar

MAE 434W

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Gene Hou

Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASV) have been developed for their addition to the versatility of marine vehicles and capabilities in sea-based missions. The autonomous surface vehicle’s contribution to the marine environment includes agility, mobility, reduced collateral damage under operation, and a low-profile. Advantages in non-symmetrical missions surpass that of manned vessels due to its technological advances characteristics[1]. The function of the ASV depends commonly on a motion controller with a feedback loop implemented, propellers with speed regulation, and measurement equipment. These components are incorporated into the design of the ASV to provide capabilities of path prediction, obstacle negotiation, and performance of pre-defined tasks.[2]. These attributes, as compared to remote-controlled boats, give the ASV the ability to operate in “auto-pilot” mode[2].

Multiple tests by different organizations increase the feasibility of the autonomous surface vehicles use in the maritime atmosphere. ASV testing has proved that there are methods developed and discussed to heighten responsiveness and awareness in the water and controllers can be created and then implemented depending on the domain or missions possible by the ASV[2-4]. However, much of the investigations have been conducted in small, calm water bodies and the vehicle performs pre-defined tasks. It is not known how the autonomous surface vehicle can survive in rough open ocean conditions and design challenges limit prolonged use.

The goal of exploring design of the ASV is to reduce weight and drag in order to prolong battery capacity [5]. The ASV must be able to correct its motion from external forces and compensate for water or weight resistance simultaneously as it initiates completion of a mission.[6]. The studies previously established on the unmanned vehicle can offer knowledge on determining input or output relations between the propeller motors and desired vehicle dynamics. However, there is still a need to test performance of the vehicle under different missions as well as changing environments to see how well the vehicle can respond. Capabilities of the ASV cannot be improved without testing and updating methods of detecting objects, motion changes, avoiding collisions, and many other maritime tasks. Old Dominion’s Autonomous Surface Vehicle Project can offer data curves on performance of the ASV in the previously stated tasks and continually maximize design factors to sustain an ever improving efficiency.

References

[1]G. Wu, H. Sun, J. Zou, and L. Wan, "The basic motion control strategy for the water-jet-propelled USV," in Mechatronics and Automation, 2009. ICMA 2009. International Conference on, 2009, pp. 611-616.

[2]S. Lee, C. Yu, K. Hsiu, Y. Hsieh, C. Tzeng, and Y. Kehr, "Design and experiment of a small boat track-keeping autopilot," Ocean Engineering, vol. 37, pp. 208-217, 2010.

[3]J. Wang, W. Gu, and J. Zhu, "Design of an autonomous surface vehicle used for marine environment monitoring," in Advanced Computer Control, 2009. ICACC'09. International Conference on, 2009, pp. 405-409.

[4]M. Caccia, M. Bibuli, R. Bono, and G. Bruzzone, "Basic navigation, guidance and control of an unmanned surface vehicle," Autonomous Robots, vol. 25, pp. 349-365, 2008.

[5]J. Wang, W. Gu, J. Zhu, and J. Zhang, "Energy Consumption Analysis of Electric Propulsion System Used in Autonomous Surface Vehicle," in Computer and Automation Engineering, 2009. ICCAE'09. International Conference on, 2009, pp. 191-195.

[6]W. B. Klinger, I. Bertaska, J. Alvarez, and K. D. von Ellenrieder, "Controller Design Challenges for Waterjet Propelled Unmanned Surface Vehicles with Uncertain Drag and Mass Properties," Proceedings of MTS/IEEE Oceans 2013–San Diego, pp. 23-26, 2013.