jeudi 20 juillet 2017

0

Varied Applications For Unmanned Surface Vehicles

  • jeudi 20 juillet 2017
  • 00fees
  • Share
  • By Douglas Gibson


    Anyone with a mapping program on their computer is familiar with how the contours the land are shown. These mountains and valleys are depicted in lakes as well as oceans, and many people might assume that all this was done from satellites. However, a great deal of this mapping is being done with unmanned surface vehicles.

    Most of these USVs are being controlled remotely, and require almost no babysitting by a human hand. University scientists can follow pods of whales with the same equipment that mapping programs are utilizing to show details in the deepest parts of the ocean. One has only to program that zone they wish to map, and keep tabs on the progress through whatever vehicle control stations, VCS for short, are assigned.

    The VCS is an application that can be added to any smart phone or other Internet interface device. In this way, the individuals performing the study can keep track of their project in real time, twenty-four hours a day, as long as the batteries hold up. There is a bank of four powerful battery packs they keep tabs on, and they are sure to know right away if the vehicle has run into any sort of trouble.

    Bathymetry is the term for mapping the bottom of bodies of water. In the past this project was performed from boats fitted with sonar and radar equipment. The boats had to comb the region in a back and forth motion; a process that was both time and labor intensive.

    Robotic vessels have no need for gasoline, and they can perform their job without utilizing very many humans in the process. They can perform their duty much longer than human-controlled boats, and are able to perform studies that would have been impossible before. Should weather change abruptly, no people are put at risk.

    In fact, these little remote control boats are an excellent way to measure temperature, rainfall, and wave patterns during hurricanes or monsoons. Without risking any human life, we can now get readings that would have been impossible to measure before. Because the data is being transferred via the app, data is spared even if the USV is lost.

    There are many individuals in the private sector who might have use for these technologies as well. Anyone owning properties that contain small lakes or ponds know how important it is to keep a regular tab on the depth of the water body. By sweeping their ponds, they will know if there are structures or vegetation at depths that could be risky to swimmers and boats, and some will even alert them to the presence of undercurrents or dams created by animals.

    Anyone living on or near large bodies of water is able to assist law enforcement with these USVs as well. Because they are able to work round-the-clock with little or no oversight, they are an ideal method of performing search and rescue missions on oceans and lakes. Many lives can be spared which would have been lost without the ability to search effectively and efficiently.




    About the Author:



    0 Responses to “Varied Applications For Unmanned Surface Vehicles”

    Enregistrer un commentaire

    Trending

    Subscribe