Autonomous Surface Vehicle for Measuring Water Body Parameters

An autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) has been developed to perform autonomous trajectories in protected water bodies for the measurement of diverse parameters. The navigation track is accomplished based on the information from a GPS and an electronic compass. Several water body parameters are measured by means of an electronic sonde. The assigned track is composed by a set of points, each one with a heading angle and a distance. This information is transmitted from a control panel to the ASV by means of a personal digital assistant (PDA), using a graphic user interface (GUI). The wireless communication is achieved with a bidirectional radio modem link. Data from the sonde are also transmitted and stored in the PDA. Additionally, the ASV can be operated manually, in this case, the PDA is used like a conventional remote control. The ASV operation mode can be switched between manual and autonomous at any time. The robotic vehicle was tested both in an aquaculture pond and in a cove in both operation modes. Results show that the ASV is a trustworthy tool for measurement of protected water bodies.