Survey on Communication and Networks for Autonomous Marine Systems

Abstract

The rapid development of autonomous systems and Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) create new opportunities for maritime activities. Existing autonomous systems are becoming more powerful and utilise the capabilities of several types of devices such as Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs)sometimes referred as Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASVs) -, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), moored and drifting systems and, recently emerging, autonomous vessels. Their importance in providing new services in maritime environments is undeniable and the opportunity for coordinated and interconnected operations is clear. However, continuous wide integration of various technologies in maritime environments still faces many challenges. Operations may take place in remote locations, so that dependence on third-party infrastructures such as satellite communication or terrestrial communication systems must be expected. The reliability, performance, availability, and cost of such systems are important issues that need to be tackled. This work reviews the major advancements on state-of-the-art autonomous maritime vehicles and systems, which are used in several different scenarios, from scientific research to transportation. Moreover, the paper highlights how available technologies can be composed in order to efficiently and effectively operate in maritime environments. Highlights of the trade-off between autonomy and communication requirements are provided and followed by an overview of promising communication and networking technologies that could encourage the integration of autonomous systems in maritime scenarios.

Tracking and Monitoring System Based on LoRa Technology for Lightweight Boats

“…As stated previously, different communication alternatives usually employed in IoT deployments have been applied to maritime scenarios. These technologies include WSN, such as IEEE 802.15.4-based architectures, cellular systems, e.g., GSM (Global System for Mobile communications), 3G, and 4G, or VHF/UHF-based solutions [2]. However, very few works have addressed the use of LP-WAN technologies in these scenarios.…”

“…As a typical usage example, the authors of [22] used GSM and 3G links to connect a set of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) and wavy drifter buoys with monitoring purposes to the data collector. Other works [2] have identified cellular technologies to be more appropriate in the case of large boats or ships because they do not present energetic restrictions and may employ high-gain antennas in order to extend the link with the base station on land.…”

“…There are many services and operations that depend on a trustworthy communication architecture, e.g., ship/boat monitoring, maintenance of navigation marks, goods tracking, data extraction from sensing platforms, unmanned vehicle management, safety operations, voice communications, etc. [2].…”

Is Full-autonomy the Way to Go Towards Maximizing the Ocean Potentials?

“…In a recent survey on communication technologies (Zolich et al, 2018) a relation of LOAs with communication requirements was presented. It says, basically, that the higher the LOA is, the lower the amount of data the ship would require to communicate with land.…”

Station of Automatic Vertical Profiling of Sea Coastal Zone Based on Bottom Winch

“…Ключевые слова: Прибрежная зона моря, гидрологическая структура, станция автоматического вертикального зондирования, долговременные измерения, оперативная передача данных Одной из важных потребностей современного этапа оперативной океанографии (Коротаев и др., 2013), комплексного мониторинга океанов и морей (Zolich et al, 2018), а также крупных озер и водохранилищ, является внедрение в практику наблюдений стационарных и мобильных станций автоматического зондирования водной толщи. Эти заякоренные или дрейфующие станции измеряют вертикальные профили ключевых параметров среды и осуществляют оперативную переда-В.И.…”