Maritime Systems and Technology (MAST)

Maritime Systems and Technology (MAST) Low cost Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (LAUV) for oceanographic and harbour surveillance missions Alexandre Sousa (OMST), Luís Madureira (OMST) and Gil Gonçalves (FEUP) PALACIO DE CONGRESOS, CADIZ, SPAIN 13 November 2008 12:45 14:00 7E: Platforms AUV 2 th OMST = OCEANSCAN Marine Systems & Technology LDA http://www.oceanscan-mst.com/ FEUP = Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto http://www.fe.up.pt/ 1

Outline OCEANSCAN overview (3 slides) FEUP/LSTS overview (3 slides) LAUV mechanical aspects (3 slides) LAUV architecture (2 slides) LAUV mission (4 slides) LAUV on going work (3 slides) Conclusions and questions (1 slide) 2

OCEANSCAN Marine Systems & Technology LDA Engineering the future for a sustained presence in the ocean. http://www.oceanscan-mst.com/ 3

OCEANSCAN history Since February 2008 Spin-off from the Porto University (FEUP) http://www.fe.up.pt/ Background from the Underwater Systems and Technology Laboratory (LSTS) http://whale.fe.up.pt/ Seed funding from the Neotec 2007 - Initiative supported by the Portuguese Innovation Agency (AdI) http://www.adi.pt/ time line 2008 2009 2010 4

Products and Services overview LAUV (available as product or service) Oceanographic Surveys Discharge Monitoring Bathymetry Profiling Underwater Inspection Real-time Environmental Monitoring with Sensor networks (ex. data buoys) Custom engineered solutions 5

RTD projects MARINE - http://www.project-marine.eu/ Jan'07 - Jun'08 The MARINE project aims at creating and fostering a Network of Excellence to promote the development and the transfer of knowledge and innovation in the field of maritime incidents within the context of maritime security and of protection of marine habitats. Oceanscan contribution: support on the final incident demo presentation. C4C - http://www.c4c-project.eu/ May'08 - May'11 The project aims at developing control for coordination of distributed systems for five case studies and in regard to control theory, communication networks, and computation. The case studies are: coordination of under water vehicles, coordination of aerial vehicles, coordination of automated guided vehicles, coordination of a distributed complex machine, and design of a hierarchical control and command system for a motorway network. Oceanscan contribution: develop and make available underwater vehicles capable to test the developed control distributed systems. NETCARE Jan'07 - Jun'08 The objective of the project is the development and integration of the components necessary to implement the concept of proximity to the patient. The system will be based on a kit - the go-wireless kit - consisting of a set of wireless devices for acquisition of vital signs with a capacity of communication networks in local ah-doc and a unit basis for collection and provision of information. Oceanscan contribution: participation in the system architecture and design 6

Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto Laboratório de Sistemas e Tecnologia Subaquática (LSTS) http://whale.fe.up.pt/ LABORATÓRIO DE SISTEMAS E TECNOLOGIA SUBAQUÁTICA 7

Underwater Systems and Technology Laboratory (LSTS) from Porto University MISSION STATEMENT HISTORY Design, construction and deployment of innovative vehicle/sensor systems for oceanographic, environmental, military and security applications - Laboratory established in 1997 - Involves students and faculty from: ECE, ME and CS - Primary sponsor: FCT - Additional sponsors: FP7, NATO, AdI, FLAD, Gulbenkian 8

Technologies AUV Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (since 1996) ROV Remotely Operated Vehicles (since 1999) ASV Autonomous Surface Vehicles (since 2005) Sensor Networks (since 2002) UAV Unmanned Aerial vehicles (since 2005) Low cost vehicles Common software frameworks Inter-operability Inter-disciplinary research Joint operations Focused cooperation 9

LSTS main projects KOS System New ROV system; Thrust vectoring for performance. IES Project Develop a ROV based system for the inspection of underwater structures (1999-2002) Initial concept + design + construction + tests in the water 12 months PISCIS Project Objectives: Develop low cost AUVs; Navigation of multiple AUVs; Networked operation of Uvs; Sensor based control (2002-2006) 10

LAUV Light Autonomous Underwater Vehicle LAUV mechanical aspects http://whale.fe.up.pt/lauv/ 11

LAUV sections ~ 110CM 15CM NOSE SECTION (wet) Sensors & transducers ~18KG MAIN SECTION (dry) TAIL SECTION (dry) Fins & thruster Electronics & batteries 12

LAUV main specs Navigation = long base line (LBL), dead reckoning Li-ion cells Wi-Fi Antenna GPS+GSM Antennas DC motor starting at 50 Watt Sensor payloads: nose plug-and-play system to enable quick installation of sensors Servo motors for controlling the fins Acoustic Transducer On-board computational system: Xscale processor, running Linux 13

LAUV used materials ABS propeller Resin fins PE tail Stainless steel fixtures Composite material flange PE Antenna Aluminium hull Nylon thread locker Fibre Glass Nose Composite material flange 14

LAUV Light Autonomous Underwater Vehicle LAUV architecture http://whale.fe.up.pt/lauv/ 15

LAUV system architecture Neptus CCU Command and Control Unit DUNE On-board Control Software IMC API Inter Module Communication API Consola (one or more) Wi-Fi/GSM using IMC SEAWARE Service for Publish and Subscribe LAUV system architecture Vehicle (one or more) Serial (Cable or RF) Acoustic query and reply Acoustic pings Portable Acoustic Locator (PAL) 16

LAUV internal architecture Layered architecture MISSION SUPERVISOR Simple module interaction VEHICLE SUPERVISOR B U S using IMC messages User can develop their own GOTO GUIDANCE POPUP GUIDANCE DIVE GUIDANCE specific module and connect it to the existing modules Flexible architecture allowing M E S S A G E MANEUVER HEADING DEPTH SPEED CONTROLLERS NAVIGATION CTD GPS IMU LBL FINS PROP STEP simple new integrations (sensors, controllers, etc.) 17

LAUV Light Autonomous Underwater Vehicle LAUV Mission http://whale.fe.up.pt/lauv/ 18

LAUV mission Mission = set of manoeuvres Manoeuvres like dive, GOTO, loiter, pop-up,... With adjustable parameters (time-out, radius tolerance,...) and conditions for transition. Start dive GT#2 P-UP#1 GT#4 GT#3 GT#1 19

Command and Control Unit (CCU) Support all mission life cycle: plan, execute, tracking, review & analysis. Access the vehicle variable tree Vehicle alarms display Configurable Mission simulation Mission replay More info during this afternoon presentation: Networked Operations (with Neptus) Eng Paulo Dias, FEUP, Portugal 1600 1730 8D: Systems Unmanned Vehicle Systems 20

Execution & Tracking Mission video 21

Review & Analysis Automatic PDF report Variable tree graph Google Earth image overlay XY parameter report 22

LAUV Light Autonomous Underwater Vehicle LAUV on going work http://whale.fe.up.pt/lauv/ 23

Forward looking sonar BlueView P900E-20 Miniature Multibeam Imaging Sonar (900KHz) Range Max. 55 meters Not affected by motion (0-7 Knots) Result from an underwater wall base inspection, using a surface vehicle and the forward looking sonar. 24

Side Scan sonar Tritech SeaKing Sidescan Sonar (675kHz) Low power and data rates Ideally suited for AUV survey The next sidescan test site, where some sunken vessels can be found. 25

Reduce LBL navigation dependency How? Work on a better model for the vehicle Work on a better model for the inercial motion unit drift Understand better the relation between the motor/propeller actuation and the resulted propulsion force 26

Conclusions The LAUV is an open system, engineered to evolve with the user requirements and to enable the integration of new technologies and user developments. A custom built application programming interface (API) allows the user to develop dedicated applications that communicate with the layered control software. The LAUV system will be available in 4 pre-customized versions, explained bellow: OEM - Fully functional entry level LAUV system. Low cost system targeted at training and development of concepts of operation. Upgradeable to the other versions. INSTITUTIONAL - System configured for basic oceanographic surveys. PROFESSIONAL - System configured for advanced oceanographic and harbour surveys. EXTREME - Rugged version of the LAUV system designed to operate in extreme environments arising in military and security applications. Customizable for specialized applications. 27

Thanks... http://whale.fe.up.pt/lauv/ http://www.oceanscan-mst.com/ 28