Showing papers on "Intervention AUV published in 1989"

The Autonomous Conductivity-Temperture Vehicle: First in the Seashuttle Family of Autonomous Underwater Vehicle's for Scientific Payloads

Abstract: The Mark 38 miniature, mobile, sonar target, originally developed for the Navy in 1973 as an expendable training aid for sonar operators, has been redesigned and reconfigured as a robotic underwater vehicle to carry scientific instruments for ocean research. The basic vehicle, named the SEASI-IUTTLE, is nominally 132 cm long, 8.9 cm in diameter and houses a microprocessor controlled guidance system that allows the vehicle to actively position its elevators and rudders in response to data from heading, pitch, roll, and pressure sensors. The vehicle can be programmed to follow complicated prescribed courses of action in five modes of operation: launch, mission, recovery, homing and homing search. It has a nominal speed of 4 kts, an endurance of 2 hrs, and depth tolerance to 250m. The vehicle is equipped with a homing system that returns it to an acoustic beacon, usually deployed at its launch point, at the end of its mission. The SEASHUTTLE provides power and control via a serial interface for instrumentation packages. The SEASHUTTLE has been fitted with a SeaBird CTD for measurements beneath the Arctic ice pack.

Guidance and Control of Unmanned, Untethered Submersible for Rendezvous and Docking with Underwater Station

Abstract: This paper proposes a new concept of underwater unmanned survey system consisting of a mother ship, a launcher, an underwater station(UUS) and a group of unmanned, untethered submersibles (UROVs) t o perform autonomously distributed missions in massive, f a s t and precise manners. Especially, UUS has the autonomous missions of docking with UROVs, charging of those battcries, exchange of informations and watch of UROVs. A new type of UROV recently proposed by one of the authors is employed in this concept t o perform a s table oceanographic underwater investigation on a prearranged course. Control configured vehicle (CCV) techonology is adopted t o perform the swimming at t i tude control. Fuzzy algorithm is applied t o guidance of UROV on a prrearranged course t o reason the collision risk against sea bed and forward obstacles, and t o determine control magnitudes o f CCV modes. A s one of feasibility studies of the proposed underwater unmanned survey system, the guidance of UROV fo r rendezvous and docking with UUS, consisting of rough one t o the neighborhood of UUS, and precise one t o the entrance of UUS is numerically simulated taking the effect of t idal current into account.

An Autonomous Submersible Designed for Software Development

Abstract: 'Sea Grant College Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 292 Main Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Vharles Stark Draper Laboratory, 555 Technology Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 3Department of Ocean Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 41nternationaI Submarine Engineering, I734 Broadway Street, Port Coquitlum, British Columbia, Canada V3C 2M8

A Neural-Network-Based Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Guidance System

Abstract: This paper describes the guidance function of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), based on a neural network. The properties of neural networks make them potentially well-suited for unmanned underwater vehicle automation where robust behavior, adaptation to changes and graceful degradation with damage and information overload are necessary for successful missions. To demonstrate the feasibility of neural networks in AUV applications, we formulated a neural network to perform the guidance function in a simulated AUV mission where the AUV is aware of its surroundings through measurements provided by a sonar array. The guidance function must balance the objective of reaching a goal state with the constraint of avoiding obstacles. This system has been manually trained to navigate in an environment with obstacles by observing the operator commands to guide the vehicle. The results of this effort provide a preliminary indication that a neural-network-based guidance system can be developed with reasonable training effort and can be implemented with reasonable hardware requirements.

"Mac-AROV"- A versatile testbed for real applications

Abstract: A joint program has been established to develop an energy autonomous vehicle, "MacAROV". Though the main purpose is to serve as a testbed for further R&D work towards more advanced AUV systems, it has several features that will make the vehicle a cost effective solution for immediate applications.

High Speed Long Range Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Communication Link

Abstract: A small transceiver was designed and developed for use aboard an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV). The transceiver was used to provide two way high speed communications between UUV and ground station over the FLTCOM Satellite. The satellite communication link was successfully demonstrated on 28 September 1988 using the Sea Lion submersible which was controlled in the Patuxent River by a shore based station. This is the first time that and high speed long range communications link has been established between a UUV and ground station over satellite. This is the first step and represents a major breakthrough in solving a key technology needed for autonomous underwater vehicle development.