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Ongoing Projects - Docking and Homing of AUVs
Docking and Homing of AUVs | Imaging from AUVs | Mosaicking | Acoustic Microbathymetry | Fusion of Optical and Acoustic Bathymetry |
Navigation of Underwater Vehicles
As part of the AOSN
MURI our task is to develop a methodology for docking an AUV to
a mooring to enable data and power transfer. The figure to the right
shows the implemented data pathways for the entire system.
AUV docking work strives to design and test a dock system which
can work in conjunction with an AUV making oceanographic measurements.
The dock is positioned in the water column at the working depth
of the AUV and serves as a communication link, power source and
home base for the AUV. The WHOI docking system supports the Odyssey
AUV. The dock contains a controlling computer, depth sensor, acoustic
beacons, inductive links, surface RF link, battery power and capture
motor assembly.
In full operation the AUV and dock can exchange power and data,
as well as update mission scripting information and communicate
with the surface. We utilize an ultra-short baseline acoustic navigation
system to home the vehicle into the dock. The dock is approachable
from any direction, with its central member being a vertical pole
(Figure 1). The vehicle captures the
pole (Figure 2) with a front mounted
latch. A horizontal hoop coaxial with the pole drives up the pole
bringing the vehicle into contact with inductive cores (Figure
3) used for the data and power transfer.
References
1. Singh, H., Freitag, L., Henrichsen, H., Yoerger, D., Catipovic,
J. “An Integral Approach to Multiple Vehicle AUV Communications,
Navigation and Docking”, Oceans 96 MTS/IEEE Con ference, Ft.
Lauderdale, Florida, Sept. 23-25, 1996.
2. Singh, H., Lerner, S., Von Der Heyt, K., Moran, B., “An
intelligent dock for an Autonomous Ocean Sampling Network”,
IEEE Oceans98 conference, Nice France, 1998. (pdf format, 53K)
3. Singh, H., Bowen, M., Hover, F., LeBas, P., Yoerger, D., “Intelligent
Docking for an Autonomous Ocean Sampling Network”, Oceans97,
MTS/IEEE Conference, Halifax, October 1997. (pdf format, 74.5K)
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