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Project MANTARAY

The Marine And Naval Technological Advancements for Robotic AutonomY (MANTA RAY) Team consists of students (seniors and underclassmen) from various majors within the CEPS (CS, ECE, ME, and OE). The MANTA RAY Team is tasked with designing and expanding a cross-platform fleet of collaborative autonomous marine vehicles. The fleet consists of the Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV), the Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV), and several Testing Unmanned Performance Platform Systems (TUPPS). The Ghost Unmanned Performance Platform Submersibles (GUPPS), biomimetic (robotic) fish are also being added to the fleet. For proof-of-concept, the fleet is to (1) perform an autonomous seafloor mapping mission. Current design are underway to also aid in the unobtrusive monitoring of marine life in an open ocean aquaculture environment via the GUPPS robotic platforms. The electrical engineering focus was on the development of a sensor bank that would aid in GUPPS’ underwater awareness and perception. Sensors include LIDAR, ultrasonic sensors, and camera modules. Testing has been performed both in the air and underwater at the Chase Ocean Engineering Tank. Experimental results through testing in the air gives accurate distance values which reflect that of the datasheets for each sensor. When testing was migrated underwater, the corresponding software code was modified to enable sensor calibration to account for the speed of sound and light underwater. Discoloration in relation to depth is the focus with which to decide whether a camera is suitable for underwater applications. Overall results in air, as expected, are more accurate than that of testing completed submerged underwater. Discoloration was not observed since the camera module was only tested in shallow depths.

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