Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2021
Abstract
Autonomous sailboats have demonstrated that a robot could potentially perform long-term ocean monitoring and traveling. However, self-operating sailboats in the past had sails, which could lead to issues caused by tipping and heeling too much, and were not fully solar powered, which leads to short power endurance issues. Energy efficient and low cost autonomous robotic unmanned surface vehicle, named MARCo (Marine Autonomous Robotic Communicator), was programmed, developed and tested throughout the year 2018 in a public, co-educational university in Morehead, Kentucky. An off-grid solar system, comprised of 3x 20-Watt 12-Volt panels and a 12-Volt charge controller, was designed, constructed, and installed on a 6ft surfboard to make it solar powered and increase power-endurance with the help of a power management algorithm written in Python. The boat is based on Raspberry Pi, a set of navigation sensors, and a ROCKBlock Iridium Modem. The project has been successful in building a solar-powered, sail-less, autonomous unmanned surface vehicle. The boat was tested in diverse marine environments (Eagle Lake, KY and an indoor pool) and the results showing the overall performance of our boat durability and energy consumption is presented. Journal
Recommended Citation
Journal of Undergraduate Research , Vol. 11, 1-6.
Included in
Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, Higher Education Commons, Higher Education and Teaching Commons