Project Overview: Boeing Underwater Robotics Technologies
Boeing is predominantly only known for its success in aviation despite having over 40 years of experience with maritime vehicle systems. Submersible vehicles by nature are plagued by many factors that make underwater operation very difficult when compared to similar vehicles that operate above water. Boeing has selected RIT as an academic partner to pursue research in a number of fields related to underwater robotics technologies that will help alleviate many of the complications that make underwater operation so challenging. RIT was chosen for this collaboration due to RIT’s focus on industry-inspired research projects at all levels. The objective of this collaboration is the creation of interdisciplinary design projects for Senior Design, competitive student teams, and future graduate students. These projects include many of the major subsystems which would be required for the development of a new Unmanned Underwater Robot, or UUR. The specific areas of development for these projects are limited bandwidth communications in marine environments, autonomous systems in marine environments, navigation in GPS denied environments, energy systems including generation, propulsion and storage, and innovative payload and sensor systems to meet customer needs. Through these projects, Boeing and RIT are looking to lay the groundwork for further future collaborations. As part of this partnership, Boeing is also looking to establish a laboratory at RIT that pursues up and coming technology and undertakes leading research into underwater robotics technology.
Autonomous systems in Marine Environments
Boeing would like to develop a UUR which works seamlessly with their existing UUR, the Echo Ranger. In addition, this new UUR design should include the ability for individual units to communicate between one another for more complex missions. These systems are to operate with a concept similar to swarm robotics to complete tasks. The plug and play modules will need to be able to be flexible in their tasks but should be able to come together to move equipment or work together. The RIT robotics club has conducted research into swarm robotics and has compiled an algorithm for land vehicles for a variety of competitions. Dr. Sahin and the Robotics club are confident that the algorithm could be adapted to an underwater application.
Energy Systems
Developing new sources of energy, generating energy more efficiently, and optimizing the storage of this energy are emerging concerns in today’s society. Boeing would like to collaborate with RIT by researching and developing new solutions for energy systems applicable to underwater robotic technology. Possible methods of energy generation suggested by Boeing include fuel cell technology development, thermoelectric generation, and nuclear power generation. Other areas of development suggested include the optimization of battery performance or the application of salt water as a possible fuel source. Boeing has imposed no restrictions on which technologies to develop, which opens a window of opportunity for RIT to research technology that can be applicable to underwater robotics.Existing projects in development at RIT includes research done by Dr. Robert Stevens to maximize the efficiency of thermoelectric power generation.
Innovative Payloads and Sensor Systems
Boeing is looking to create customizable payloads and sensor suites for their customers. A large portion of their applications have to do with oil and gas drilling so they are looking for a system which can both detect sources of oil and gas as well as detect any leaks which may occur during drilling. Boeing wants to create either a system of sensors which can are interchangeable so a customer can modify it to fit their needs or a way to deliver a system of sensors to a certain location.
Navigation Systems
Boeing is interested in developing a navigation system which is capable of operating underwater in GPS-denied environments. Inertial navigation systems are the standard choice for this type of application, and have already been utilized by Boeing for similar projects. The major problem that Boeing has experienced with inertial navigation systems is minimizing the “drift” experienced by these systems. Inertial navigation systems typically utilize accelerometers to measure the accelerations and radial velocities experienced by a given object. This data can then be integrated to calculate velocity, and further integrated to calculate position. With each of these integrations, errors in the initial measurement are increased and compounded. Each calculated position is based on the previously calculated position as well as the acceleration and angular velocity which have been measured since that previous position. Because of this the integration drift increases proportionally with the time since the initial position was input. Traditionally, this problem is remedied by periodically correcting the position. For underwater applications, surfacing to obtain a position update based on GPS before diving once again to proceed with the mission is one option. Another tactic, commonly used in land-based applications, is periodically stopping and taking a data point at the zero velocity condition. This allows position calculations to maintain accuracy for a longer period of time than they normally would, thus slowing the effects of integration drift. Dr. Crassidis has considerable experience with inertial navigation systems and is currently researching a systemwhich minimizes integration drift. For this reason, he would likely be an ideal partner for this project.
In addition to inertial navigation systems, short range Doppler sonar and acoustic positioning systems can also be utilized for navigation in GPS-denied environments. These technologies, however, have the drawback of being detectable. The acoustic signal can be intercepted with relative ease with proper instrumentation. Intercepting the short range Doppler signal requires “listening in” from a relatively close location to the signal source, but can still be accomplished without much difficulty.
Communication Systems
Boeing currently utilizes Radio Frequency (RF) communication for above water applications however, this communication is restricted underwater. As a result, Boeing uses acoustic communication for its underwater systems. This technology, however, is limited to short range communication. In order to enhance their underwater communications, Boeing is interested in pursuing new underwater communication systems that will give them the ability to communicate over greater distances underwater, as well as through the surface of the water. Laser and LED-based communication technologies show great promise as alternatives, but both require further research and development before they can be seen as viable replacements for current communication systems. In addition, these forms of communication can also be used for high data transfer rates between two UURs.Boeing has shown interest in pursuing each of these communication systems for their UURs as an improvement over their current systems.
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