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In this paper, we introduce a small and low-cost unmanned surface vehicle (USV), the SMARTBoat 5, capable of removing harmful algal blooms (HABs), which are a rising environmental issue worldwide. The proposed USV is a hovercraft type, operated by two propellers with duct fans; it is able to freely move even in shallow water and to approach shorelines. For eco-friendly, immediate, and safe control of algae without ecosystem disruption, the USV is equipped with a novel water suction mechanism that enables it to actively collect algae without physical contact. In addition, it is equipped with a mesh net-based filter system that is easily disassembled and replaced. The USV system is supported by the Robot Operating System (ROS) for expandability and use in diverse applications. Also, the performance of the proposed water suction mechanism and USV platform overall are validated through computational fluid simulation (CFD) and experiments in both lab and real environments.
Harmful Algae Bloom, Unmanned Surface Vehicles, Computational Fluid Simulation, Robot Operating Systems, Successive Linear Programming