Uncrewed Systems Technology 049 - April/May 2023

Marine Advanced Robotics WAM-V | Dossier crewed vessel as well as a UAV following the WAM-V,” Mehlman says. “We can output commands for the aerial autopilot to follow the USV’s GNSS position, with a specific offset or at a defined perimeter or geofence to keep it outside a certain distance or area. So the USV isn’t just a landing station but a comms link as well.” The computer network’s architecture consists first and foremost as a control layer for real-time actuation of the propulsion systems and rudders, which tends to be run on a rugged and lightweight microcontroller with a high number of analogue and digital I/Os. After running through the microcontroller, the commands are delivered to a more powerful computer to process them into signals that the lower- level actuation ECUs can interpret and execute for precise control output. “Neither themicrocontroller nor the computer for actuation is ever a high-power systemthough; theywon’t drawa lot of current or produce a lot of heat,”Mehlman says. “That’smost of our autonomy stack right there, but the computer will want to cross-referencewaypoint and following informationwith data fromother computational systems, such as camera, Lidar, sonar andGCS systems, and that happens through our IP network. “People talk about TCP and IP as though they’re joined at the hip, but you don’t usually want to control a robot over TCP; UDP is the preferred layer. But payload connections can be done over TCP, along with a transparent radio bridge so that our customers can see their payload data very easily in real time.” To ensure a secure and robust network on board the USV, cables and connectors had to be selected and integrated for protection against saltwater incursion and ultraviolet radiation, both of which are severely detrimental to robotic and computer systems. “On top of that, availability is a People talk about TCP and IP as though they’re joined at the hip, but you don’t usually want to control a robot over TCP; UDP is preferred Corrected GNSS Antenna Receiver ✓ < 6-cm accuracy ✓ 60-day PointPerfect corrections ✓ Supporting SDK software ✓ Out-of-the-box operation ✓ OEM and Housed versions DESIGN PARTNER tallysman.com/gnss At last... precision for everyone. Join us at AUVSI 2023 | Booth #3424