Evolution of the autonomous surface craft AutoCat

At the MIT Sea Grant College Program, autonomous surface craft (ASCs) have been under development since 1993. These systems have been designed for various missions and have demonstrated success in three separate iterations. The current goal of ASC research at MIT is to develop an easily deployed system that can serve as a tool for educational use, as a precision survey platform, and as a communications and navigation link to an AUV. In the past, this goal has been hampered by limitations in the mechanical design of the current system. Since September 1998 significant improvements have been made to the design of the current ASC. New power, propulsion, and control systems have been installed. These improve the performance of the vehicle and significantly reduce the mechanical and electronic failures that troubled the previous system. In addition, structural modifications have been made to make deployments and operations easier. These design improvements promise to make the ASC a more useful tool for, and provide greater service to, the Autonomous Underwater Vehicles Laboratory at MIT. The paper briefly presents the history of ASC development at MIT. It then documents the design changes made to the current vehicle. The problems experienced with the old designs are identified and the improvements represented by the new systems are explained. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of the next mission for the ASC.