Development of the autonomous surface craft "ACES"

At the MIT Sea Grant College Program, Autonomous Surface Craft (ASCs) have been under development since 1993. An ASC is a small vessel outfitted with navigation and control systems which permit it to carry out functions autonomously. The first ASC developed was the ASC ARTEMIS, which was used to study command and control architectures, navigation systems, and basic data collection techniques. This vehicle successfully demonstrated the ability to operate autonomously and collect hydrographic data. ARTEMIS served well as a test platform but its small size made it unsuitable for coastal and open ocean research. Cruising speed, range, payload, and stability were all improved in the second generation ASC platform. The ASC ACES (Autonomous Coastal Exploration System) will provide better cruising speed, significantly more payload, longer mission endurance, and better seakeeping characteristics when compared to ARTEMIS. This was achieved within the primary design constraint of a 300 pound maximum weight chosen so that ACES could be easily deployed by a two member operations team. This paper describes the development of ACES. The challenge of designing a small lightweight platform with the required performance is explained and the solution implemented on ACES is described. Primary components of the design described include the hull and structural members, propulsion and power systems, and steering systems.