Estimating the Autonomy Range of the Battery-Powered Small Unmanned Surface Vehicle

Nowadays small unmanned surface vehicles (USV) can be assembled from low-cost components and provide cheap, easy-to-operate means for water cargo, bathymetry, exploration of oceanic resources, search and rescue operations, and water monitoring. One of the key parameters of such boats is their autonomous range. The capacity of the battery is the main feature that influences it. But also the choice of the propeller pitch and the cruise speed is of great importance because of nonlinear current consumption at different speeds. In this paper, we profile the propulsion system of a 1.2 m long boat operating with 2-blade high-speed and 3-blade low-speed propellers and with 22ah and 44ah batteries. By measuring the current consumption and the shaft revolutions rate in the test pool, we calculate the appropriate range of the boat at different speeds. Using the obtained data, one can easily estimate the range of the boat depending on the battery capacity.