ENDURUNS: An Integrated and Flexible Approach for Seabed Survey Through Autonomous Mobile Vehicles

The advance of technology has enabled the development of unmanned systems/vehicles used in the air, on the ground or on/in the water. The application range for these systems is continuously increasing, and unmanned platforms continue to be the subject of numerous studies and research contributions. This paper deals with the role of sensors and measurements in ensuring that unmanned systems work properly, meet the requirements of the target application, provide and increase their navigation capabilities, and suitably monitor and gain information on several physical quantities in the environment around them. Unmanned system types and the critical environmental factors affecting their performance are discussed. The measurements that these kinds of vehicles can carry out are presented and discussed, while also describing the most frequently used on-board sensor technologies, as well as their advantages and limitations. The paper provides some examples of sensor specifications related to some current applications, as well as describing the recent research contributions in the field.

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“…The Side Scan Sonar (SSS) provides a map of seabed acoustical reflectivity by measuring the acoustic surface reflectance of the seabed [ 74 ].…”

Section: Measurements For Unmanned Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensors and Measurements for Unmanned Systems: An Overview

Balestrieri

Daponte

Vito

et al. 2021

Sensors

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“…The safety coefficient C is applied according to the requirements of the operation, being possible to choose different C values. C is a correction value that increments the GIFOV values ensuring proper measurements-see Equation (14).…”

Section: Determination Of Underwater Fovmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Various studies have focused on the increase of the autonomy with novel power systems, e.g., Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) hydrogen fuel cell systems, and advanced power management systems [12,13]. H2020 ENDURUNS project investigates the development and demonstration of a novel approach for intelligent seabed surveys [14]. The objective is to achieve a high level of autonomy, endurance and mission control by developing clean energy vehicles equipped with modern systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles and Field of View in Underwater Operations

Ramírez

Sánchez

Papaelias

et al. 2021

JMSE

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Submarine inspections and surveys require underwater vehicles to operate in deep waters efficiently, safely and reliably. Autonomous Underwater Vehicles employing advanced navigation and control systems present several advantages. Robust control algorithms and novel improvements in positioning and navigation are needed to optimize underwater operations. This paper proposes a new general formulation of this problem together with a basic approach for the management of deep underwater operations. This approach considers the field of view and the operational requirements as a fundamental input in the development of the trajectory in the autonomous guidance system. The constraints and involved variables are also defined, providing more accurate modelling compared with traditional formulations of the positioning system. Different case studies are presented based on commercial underwater cameras/sonars, analysing the influence of the main variables in the measurement process to obtain optimal resolution results. The application of this approach in autonomous underwater operations ensures suitable data acquisition processes according to the payload installed onboard.

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“…There are various initiatives from governments and organisations, e.g., the International Hydrographic Commission or Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, for promoting submarine mapping and exploration, such as "Seabed 2030" [2]. ENDURUNS [3] is a research project to develop and demonstrate a long-endurance sea surveying autonomous unmanned vehicle with gliding capability powered by renewable energy. The project seeks to promote an enhanced monitoring capability of the oceans whilst employing advanced analytics coupled with extended operational endurance thanks to the hydrogen stored onboard, which will be used to recharge the batteries whenever required [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of UIoT for Offshore Surveys Through Autonomous Vehicles

Sánchez

Márquez

Govindara

et al. 2021

Polish Maritime Research

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The ENDURUNS project is a European Research project of the Horizon 2020 framework, which has as its main objective to achieve the optimum and intelligent use of green hydrogen energy for long-term ocean surveys. The ENDURUNS system comprises an Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) and an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) with gliding capability. The power pack of the USV integrates Li-ion batteries with photovoltaic panels, whilst the AUV employs Li-ion batteries and a hydrogen fuel cell. It is essential to develop a continuous monitoring ca-pability for the different systems of the vehicles. Data transmission between the devices onboard presents challenges due to the volume and structure of the different datasets. A telecommunications network has been designed to manage the operational components considered in the project. The autonomous vehicles perform measurements, providing their position and other data wirelessly. The system will generate a great volume of various signals during the survey. The Remote Control Centre needs to be interfaced with the vehicles in order to receive, manage and store the acquired data. An Underwater Internet of Things (IoT) platform is designed to establish efficient and smart data management. This study presents an exhaustive survey to analyse the telecommunication systems employed in the autonomous vehicles, including the back-end, user interface and mobile units. This paper presents the novel design of the hardware and software structure of the ENDURUNS project with regard to the literature, where its components and their in-terconnection layers are detailed, which is a novel scientific and technological approach for autonomous seabed surveying in deep oceans or in coastal areas.

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ENDURUNS: An Integrated and Flexible Approach for Seabed Survey Through Autonomous Mobile Vehicles

Cited by 45 publications

References 79 publications

Sensors and Measurements for Unmanned Systems: An Overview

Sensors and Measurements for Unmanned Systems: An Overview

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles and Field of View in Underwater Operations

Use of UIoT for Offshore Surveys Through Autonomous Vehicles

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