Control
station for an unmanned ground or maritime (surface or undersea) system.
Unmanned Undersea Vehicles (UUVs) are the most recent
addition to the autonomous vehicle world. These platforms where and are being
developed to replace divers and manned deep submerge vehicles (DSVs) to do work
in the ocean such as exploration, science, search and rescue and ocean floor
survey. Using UUV’s reduces the operational risk management (ORM) dramatically
to the human being.
Market scope: Military unmanned maritime vehicle (UMV) technology has multiple
applications in mine counter-measures; anti-submarine warfare; intelligence,
reconnaissance and surveillance; port security; forward battlespace security
and many other areas in the military and security sectors (Cision, 2015).
For my discussion, I will be examining the
REMUS 600 AUV. This upgraded REMUS (from the REMUS 100) has increased
endurance, payload, and operating depth.
- Vehicle diameter: 32.4 cm (12.75 in); diameter varies depending upon module (for 600 m depth configuration).
- Vehicle length: Min length ~2.7 m (~9 ft) Max length ~5.5 m (~18 ft); length varies depending upon module configuration.
- Weight in air: Min weight ~220 kg (~500 lbs) Max weight ~385 kg (~850 lbs); weight varies depending upon module configuration.
- Maximum operating depth: 600 m (1500 m configurations available).
- Power: 5.4 kWh rechargeable Lithium ion battery. (Second 5.4 kWh battery tray is optional). Exchangeable battery option available.
- Endurance: Typical mission endurance is up to 24 hours in standard configuration. Subject to speed, battery and sensor configurations.
- Propulsion: Direct drive DC brushless motor to an open two bladed propeller.
- Velocity range: Up to 2.3 m/s (4.5 knots) variable over range.
- Control: 3 independent control fins providing yaw, pitch and roll control. Altitude, depth, yo-yo and track-line following provided. Optional forward fins available for heading control during bottom tracking with a cross current.
- External hook-up: Two connectors, one for shore power and one for shore data. Alternatively, 802.11G wireless network (Wi-Fi) provided via dorsal fin antenna.
- Casualty circuits: Ground fault, housing leak detection and all sensors and systems have operational go / no-go fault indicators.
- Navigation methods: Inertial, Long Baseline (LBL) Acoustic, SBAS enabled GPS, Ultra Short Baseline Acoustic and Acoustic Transponder.
- Communication: Acoustic modem, Iridium modem, Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz, 100 Base-T Ethernet (standard), 1000 Base-T Ethernet (optional).
- Software: REMUS Vehicle Interface Program (VIP), GUI-based laptop interface for programming, training, documentation, maintenance and troubleshooting.
Operators can monitor the AUV's progress and status via
an acoustic link. This also enables amendments to the mission plan to be sent
to the vehicle along with position updates if required. The HiPAP (KONGSBERG
acoustic underwater positioning and navigation system) or Ranger positioning
systems provide acoustic aiding to the on-board IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit)
and DVL (Doppler Velocity Log) equipment to make the real-time position
solution as accurate as possible. Some HYDROID AUVs also transmit real-time
side-scan and bathymetry data back to the operator acoustically. This data is
displayed on the payload computer screen to give the operations team confidence that the
mission is progressing as planned and there are no gaps in the data. When
the
AUVs are on the surface, they can communicate via Wi-Fi or radio with the
operator. They are also equipped with GPS receivers to update the IMU position
with the most accurate information available (Kongsberg, 2017).
The REMUS 600 uses the
Vehicle Interface Program (VIP) which makes it easier for users for mission
planning, maintenance, and data analysis. The communication between the control
station and the vehicle is via an Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection which allows the
operators to build a mission target deck, view the target deck on a map for any
adjustments or corrections, check for any warning messages if mission target
deck is loaded incorrectly and to display vehicle status with green indicators
meaning OK or red indicators that mean a fault exists.
Identify
any negative issues or challenges that are currently faced by users, then
recommend changes or additions.
With the future development of UUV’s and AUV’s there needs to be
standardized interfaces with a common architecture to communicate and control
the vehicles. This will produce minimal logistics and longer performance that
all underwater vehicles can cooperate with other underwater systems. There
needs to be more onboard processing of data into information then compressing
the data to be transmitted to other vehicles and the ground control station
aboard a ship or on land. All underwater operations have a difficult time
communicating and in the near term more research needs to be done around
communication capabilities. There needs to be more autonomy which would reduce
the communications piece immensely. Also, the vehicles need to have the ability
to navigate and give coordinate position to the control station in order
integrate the data from the sensors. A possible solution would be to attach
small modules to the sea floor that could send radio transmissions or use
Global Positioning System (GPS) navigational fixes for the vehicles to follow.
I also think that the UUV should be able to recharge itself from
some type energy packet that has been set in place on the sea floor. The UUV
could receive data from other vehicles in the working area via small buoy or
antenna on the ocean surface to re-gain it’s GPS and timing (basically like
re-aligning an INS on an airplane). By using this buoy or antenna system the
UUV can transmits its data via satellite or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) relay
which would provide constant and real-time warning indications to the control
station.
References
2016-2026. Retrieved from
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/military-unmanned-
maritime-vehicles-umv-market-report-2016-2026-561412801.html
https://www.km.kongsberg.com/ks/web/nokbg0240.nsf/AllWeb
/F0437252E45256BDC12574AD004BDD4A?OpenDocument
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