Saildrone - Autonomous circumnavigation of Farallon islands from Richard Jenkins
A wind-propelled autonomous platform for ocean data collection
From MTS Foundation
Saildrone is an innovative oceanographic research platform developed through a collaboration of Saildrone LLC with the Marine Science & Technology Foundation.
An autonomous vehicle designed for operation on the water's surface, Saildrone is powered entirely by wind and solar energy.
Suitable for deployments from either shore or ship, it has the capability to autonomously navigate across any body of water around the world.
Saildrone during its first 60 hour milestone, in 25 knots of wind
Designed for long-term deployments in the open ocean, Saildrone will support collection of diverse oceanographic data, which can then be delivered to shore remotely via satellite.
Our current R&D effort aims to enable Saildrone to survive autonomous deployments lasting many months in the open ocean, and prove it as a cost-efficient and agile autonomous data collection platform.
It can safely and reliably operate in areas difficult to access using large ships and other traditional methods - for example, around shallow reefs, banks, and in otherwise harsh coastal environments.
Saildrone will have substantial on-board payload capacity to accommodate a variety of embedded sensors as well as add-on instrumentation for collection of diverse oceanographic data.
Two-way satellite communication allows Saildrone to send data to shore and receive commands from a shoreside control center while operating autonomously at sea.
Missions can be modified "on-the-fly" by a shoreside operator, e.g. if telemetry data shows interesting trends that require more detailed investigation.
This collaboration will enable Saildrone LLC and MSTF to develop and thoroughly test the initial Saildrone prototype demonstrator, and assess the potential of this technology to help reduce the costs of oceanographic data collection relative to conventional methods.
San Francisco to Hawaii mission
Over the past 6 months, Saildrone 1 has logged over 3,000 nautical miles during a variety of missions, including the first autonomous rounding of the Farallon islands and a 27 day offshore sortie in the Pacific.
The current mission is a full ocean crossing from San Francisco to Hawaii, which started on October 1st, 2013.
It can safely and reliably operate in areas difficult to access using large ships and other traditional methods - for example, around shallow reefs, banks, and in otherwise harsh coastal environments.
Advanced composite construction & revolutionary sailing vessel design
Two-way satellite communication allows Saildrone to send data to shore and receive commands from a shoreside control center while operating autonomously at sea.
Missions can be modified "on-the-fly" by a shoreside operator, e.g. if telemetry data shows interesting trends that require more detailed investigation.
This collaboration will enable Saildrone LLC and MSTF to develop and thoroughly test the initial Saildrone prototype demonstrator, and assess the potential of this technology to help reduce the costs of oceanographic data collection relative to conventional methods.
San Francisco to Hawaii mission
Over the past 6 months, Saildrone 1 has logged over 3,000 nautical miles during a variety of missions, including the first autonomous rounding of the Farallon islands and a 27 day offshore sortie in the Pacific.
The current mission is a full ocean crossing from San Francisco to Hawaii, which started on October 1st, 2013.
click on the picture to display Saildrone's progress in real time
Links :
- GeoGarage : Swimming robot reaches Australia after record-breaking trip / Model boat Snoopy Sloop on unmanned Atlantic crossing challenge
- Bluefin Robotics : Bluefin and NRL complete long endurance UUV mission from Boston to New-York
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