BlackFinn-II is a fully autonomous underwater vehicle developed to compete in the AUVSI and ONR's 14th International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition, also known as AUVSI's RoboSub Competition. BlackFinn-II has been designed and built by students of the College of Engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
The vehicle must perform a series of tasks in an underwater environment without the aid of human or external computing intervention. The BlackFinn-II Team has taken the experiences of previous AUVSI competition teams at Embry Riddle (including IGVC, ASVC, and UAS along with knowledge gained from past AUV competitors) to develop a succesful autonomous underwater platform. The 2011 RoboSub competition will be held at SPAWAR's TRANSDEC facility at San Diego, CA from July 12 to July 17.
This competition offers a unique opportunity for students to gain experience working in a cross-disciplinary project environment. ERAU AUV team consists of undergraduate students representing different majors from the College of Engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. The development of an autonomous underwater vehicle provides great knowledge on understanding how autonomous systems work. As the world leading Aeronautical and Aerospace University, participating in the RoboSub competition is a whole new challenge for ERAU's Engineering Departments.
Unlike many other participants, ERAU has only been involved in research and development of AUV technology for only three years. Developing a succesful AUV from scratch has been a very challenging, but also very rewarding task. The development of Blackfinn-II (and its predecessors) was not only focussed on meeting AUVSI's RoboSub Competition requirements.The main goal of ERAU's AUV team has always been to develop a multi-purpose underwater platform that can be either used as an autonomous platform, as an ROV as well as a semi-autonomous system. All our competition entries have always accomplished these three requirements. With every new vehicle, the technology, algorithms and techniques used have progressively evolved. Blackfinn-II is our latest and most advanced creation. ERAU is proud to be represented by such a magnificent platform. For this year's competition our main goal is to be successful in as many elements and phases of the competition as possible. We believe that BlackFinn-II demonstrates exceptional systems integration, combining proven software and hardware solutions with unique ideas and novel approaches to accomplish the mission tasks.
Name:
Edgard Oliveros
Class Year:
2010
Major:
Software Engineering
Years on team:
2
Favorite Quote:
"The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times."
Place of Origin:
Peru/Puerto Rico
Michael Silverman
2013
Mechanical Engineering
1
"You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take."
USA
Daniel Reyes Duran
2011
Aerospace Engineering & Engineering Physics
"Life is just a playground for our minds."
Spain
Dr. Charles Reinholtz
Professor and Chair
Mechanical
Engineering Department.
Dr. Tim Wilson
Department of Electrical, Computer, Software and Engineering.
BlackFinn-II is our latest innovation on autonomous underwater vehicles. Designed by undergraduate engineering students from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to compete at the AUVSI & ONR’s 14th International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition. . Our vehicle was built to complete all mission requirements succesfully. Blackfinn-II combines different novel algorithms utilized by our previous competition entries.
The main objective this year was to improve our vehicle’s overall capabilities and robustness in both mechanical and software aspects. Just like with our previous designs (Blackfinn-I), Blackfinn-II features a simple, easy to assemble mechanical design. This innovative design has been tested and proven successful in several different events and environments, including AUVSI's RoboSub competition. As with previous designs, Blackfinn’s innovative design has been carefully planned and focused on minimizing both the expense and number of external sensors on the vehicle. . Most of the sensors are well protected inside the vehicle’s main hull or in external robust compartments. This allows Blackfinn to serve as a very robust and versatile autonomous platform that can be used for a wide variety of applications and in multiple environments.
Blackfinn is capable of determining its depth by measuring the internal change of pressure in the hull. As the vehicle increases its depth, the increasing pressure deflects the walls of the hull inwards augmenting the internal pressure linearly.
Blackfinn was designed taking this fact into consideration. The external 1-inch thick pure aluminum plates and the aluminum frame increase the AUV structural strength when navigating on deeper waters. As a result, the AUV does not require any external transducer to determine depth. Blackfinn is also capable of auto-calibrating its sensors before starting a mission. These calibration procedures are performed autonomously.
Blackfinn was designed using several CAD Software packages. The main design was done in 3D-Max and CATIA. Each component was then tested for stresses in NASTRAN and FEMAP. Computational Fluids Dynamic testing (CFD) was performed in CATIA and Flow 3D.
The power source of Blackfinn-II consists of two six-cell Lithium-Ion battery packs in parallel providing a total of 24V with an average battery life of 1-2 hours. If desired, there is internal space for two extra slim battery packs that allow an extended battery life of 2-3 hours. If more range is desired, Blackfinn-II is equipped with an external power connector that allows external sealed battery compartments to be added. The same connector can be used to utilize an external above ground power source to be used for ROV applications. This allows Blackfinn-II to be used for awide variety of applications. We chose Lithium-Ion because of their outstanding safety ratings. They also do not require any special charging procedures.
One of our goals this year with our electronics was to simplify their integration and maintenance. All of our components can operate independently from each other because each has its own cabling to the main power source, increasing reliability.
Our vehicle electronics require different voltages to operate properly.
The new upgraded thrusters require a voltage of 14V. Blackfinn-II utilizes a total of 4 Brushless DC thrusters. There is always at least two thrusters simultaneously operating during the whole mission (i.e. Depth Control). Depending on the thrust, a single thruster can consume anywhere from 100mA to 6A. Instantaneous power requirements sometimes require large amounts of instantaneous current requirements. To account for this, the propulsion unit utilizes two 4-Cell LI-ON 14V battery packs in parallel. With this battery arrangement, the thrusters can operate between 2-12-hrs depending on the application and loads.
Blackfinn-II features a ful ATX motherboard with state of the art processing capabilities. The overall power requirements of the processing unit is a serious penalty. The processing unit, navigation unit (sensors) and communications unit (router and firewire card) receive power from two 6-Cell LI-ON 24V battery packs in parallel. This allows the system to run for a maximum period of 2 hrs. For extended missions, the external power connector must be used.
Safety has always been one of our main design goals. With Blackfinn-II, safety measures have been double and taken very seriously. Blackfinn-II is capable of producing 22Lbs of thrust per thruster. The large thrust capabilities require more strick safety measures. In order to improve safety measures, Blackfinn-II features an external LED safety awareness system. The LED system flashes whenever the AUV is powered. Depending on the type of run mode the AUV is in it will perform different flashing patterns (i.e. blinking for autonomous, solid red for stand-by..etc.)
The vehicle case features an innovative sealing system that regulates the internal pressure through a pressure valve. This allows the vehicle to rapid dive or surface without inflicting any permanent structural damage to the hull. This way, all electrical components are safe at all times. if the hull overheats the pressure valve will also automatically release pressure and cool down the system as the vehicle surfaces.
Depending on the initial instructions given to the AUV, the AI system will determine, according to the battery life calculations, to either navigate back to the starting position or just remain buoyant until help arrives. If tethered, several warning messages are sent to the monitoring station to notify a battery charge necessity.
Blackfinn-1 features a wide array of state of the art electrical components. These components monitor and control the behaviour and movements of the vehicle at all times. Each component performs a critical function in any mission.
ORIENTATION MODULE:
The orientation unit is composed of three high resolution compasses, a gyroscope and an accelerometer. Blackfinn-II is capable of using three compasses simultaneously to reduce magnetic interferences and ensure a reliable heading.
ON-BOARD COMPUTER:
The on-board computer manages and processes all the sensor data and hardware modules through custom algorithms.
SENSORS:
Apart from the orientation module sensors, Blackfinn-II also uses internal pressure sensors, voltage and current sensors and two HD cameras. This sensor network allows the AI unit to determine information about the vehicle's position and surroundings.
BATTERIES:
The battery system is composed of two 6-Cell 24V LI-ON battery packs for onboard electronics and two 4-Cell 14V LI-ON battery packs for the prupulsion system. BlackFinn-II also features external power adpater capabilities for ROV applications.
PROPULSION:
We chose National Instruments Labview as our main software language for all of our software because of its compatibility and it is a powerful programming tool to use.
Our vehicle uses two HD cameras fixed to the vehicle's frontal section. Blackfinn-II implements many advanced machine vision algorithms during operation. The vehicle primarily depends on the machine vision module. This is why we have worked very hard in developing a complete set of extremely efficient and precise vision algorithms.
BlackFinn's vision system is capable of detecting, recognizing and tracking targets in real-time up to distances of 80ft underwater. The system is capable of using a single camera to track an object and determine its location in 3-dimensions with respect to the vehicle. This capability allows Blackfinn to successfully keep track of target positions relative to the AUV in real-time. The system is also capable of detecting the orientation of a target with respect to the current heading of the vehicle in real-time.
The vision module is combined with a mixed virtual reality system that can help a pilot during navigation or programmers during testing (monitoring). Every action that the vehicle makes is expressed graphically through this mixed virtual reality system to a terminal. If the vehicle is being operated remotely this terminal can be easily accessed by the users. If the vehicle is in autonomous mode, the vision system creates and stores a video from this terminal in the AUVs hard drive. This video can be later viewed by programmers to help them in testing and debugging operations.
Blackfinn-II features a dynamic stability and control unit that allows both the operator and the Artificial Intelligent Unit (AIU) to navigate the vehicle without having to care about the potential dangers of certain maneuvers concerning the stability and structural integrity of the AUV. The stability and control unit allows the vehicle to feature Navigate-By-Wire technology that simplifies enormously the control of the vehicle in a 3-Dimensional underwater space. This unit uses several sensors to maintain the vehicle stable at all times. Some of these sensors include accelerometers, compass and camerasnn amongst others.
The dynamic stability and control unit (DSCU) was developed to address the necessity of maintaining the vehicle stable at all times because the centre of gravity moved along the longitudinal axis of the AUV as new hardware modifications were added. As torpedoes, bombs and other add-ons are released during navigation the vehicle's physical properties change accordingly. As a result the COG also changes its position making the vehicle dynamically unstable. The DSCU addresses this problem by managing the amount of thrust generated by every thruster in the vehicle at all moments. This thrust management is performed in the background of all other software algorithms allowing the user or the AIU to control the vehicle without having to worry about it.
Our objective is to uphold Embry Riddle Aeronautical University as an exceptional engineering school. Last years competition being our first ever appearance taught us a lot. We realized the amount of work that needed to done to improve the quality of our vehicle.
The mechanical design was basically kept the same. With the lessons learned from last year, we were able to design new parts that were easy to integrate. The electronic components followed the same track. Most of the electronics we had were working properly. As for our software, our objectives were to improve the reliability and quality of all our software modules.
Overall, with all these improvements, we are confident in our vehicles capabilities.
The method we decided to use for the development of our vehicle has helped our team members become better engineers.
Our two main leaders took care of all the managerial work. They both carry out and organize meetings were all the members contribute with ideas. This approach increased the teams productivity.
The leaders in the development of the project faced many challenges. We had to produce a quality product on schedule and on budget. Second, we had to encourage, motivate and run a team. And finally, we had to maintain a clear and consistent focus on short and long term goals, while showing confidence and enthusiasm for the team and its efforts.
When we first started our development process for this project a launch process took place were we walk through:
- Establishing goals
- Defining team roles
- Assessing risks
- Producing a team plan
After the launch, we had a defined process framework for managing, tracking and reporting the team's progress. This ensured the quality of the product and improved process management in the team. This methodology helped us establish a mature and disciplined engineering practice that delivers a functional product.
Mailing Address
ERAUAUV
Department of Electrical, Computer, Software and Engineering
Embry Riddle Aeronautical University
600 s Clyde Morris Blvd
Daytona Beach, FL 32114
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Team Leaders
Email: oliveeee_my.erau.edu
Email: reyes73a_my.erau.edu
Faculty Advisors
Dr.Tim Wilson
Email: wilsonti_erau.edu
Dr.Charles Reinholtz
Email: reinholc_erau.edu
Want to become a sponsor?
Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Team operates under the directory of Embry Riddle Autonomous Systems Laboratories. We accept kind of support or sponsorship. From equipment donations to intellectual support.
If you are interested in supporting, sponsoring or research possibilities or would like to schedule an appointment to visit our laboratory for further information, please, do not hesistate in contacting us here.
Any help or support is very much appreciated.
Thank you.
DONATE
All Rights reserved tel- 386-226-6906 / 386-226-7362 contact us at: blackfinn_erauauv.com
Interested in Becoming a Sponsor?
