Development of an Aquatic USV with High Communication Capability for Environmental Surveillance

Abstract

Nowadays, involved novel communication technologies for littoral environment monitoring become a necessity. In fact, ensuring reliable monitoring tasks in marine condition require facing up many challenges. The most important one is relative to the harshest environment that affects considerably the communication capability of the monitoring components as buoys or Unmanned Surface Vehicles. This paper presents a conceptual design and field test validation of an aquatic Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) equipped to realize maritime surveillance and environmental monitoring missions. We describe the combined operations of a custom made USV and an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS), linked together within one network to increase autonomy and communication capability. The document also describes the design and implementation of hardware and software for both the USV and UAS.