Design of an autonomous surface vehicle (ASV)

Although work in ROV (remotely operated vehicles) and AUV (autonomous underwater vehicles) has already led to the development of many vehicles, no surface robots have been designed. The Port of Bordeaux Authority in collaboration with the University of Bordeaux has undertaken the development of such an autonomous surface vehicle. The primary objective of this craft is to serve as a platform for hydrographic data acquisition. The ASV will moreover be an efficient tool destined to serve engineers and researchers involved in the study of sea. The ASV is a completely autonomous small surface craft. Its autonomy and reliability are guaranteed by its state of the art equipment. Navigation itself is monitored by a DGPS positioning system. The progress of the ASV is tracked by a mobile control station (MCS) which can either remain on-shore or be placed on-board a mother ship. The mobile control station is needed to define and preprogram the mission of the ASV before its departure, launch the ASV, monitor its progress (the MCS can retake control of the ASV at any moment) and recover it at the end of its mission. This paper describes the general architecture of the ASV and the technological choices made. It then focuses on the identification process and on the development of the control system