EcoMapper AUV
The EcoMapper is a unique AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle) designed to create high-resolution maps of water quality and bathymetry.
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EcoMapper Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
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The YSI EcoMapper is a one-man deployable, Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) designed to collect bathymetry and water quality data. The submarine-like vehicle follows a programmed course and employs sensors mounted in the nose to record pertinent information.
Once the vehicle has started its mission, it operates independently of the user and utilizes GPS waypoints and “DVL” navigation to complete its programmed course. Throughout the course, the vehicle constantly steers toward the line drawn in the mission planning soft ware (VectorMap), essentially following a more accurate “road” of coordinates instead of transversing waypoint-to-waypoint. The Ecomapper uses a Doppler Velocity Log (DVL) to increase its underwater navigation accuracy. Upon completing its mission, the vehicle uses Windows® Remote Desktop to relay the collected data via WiFi connection, facilitated by the Communications Box, to the user’s computer.
The AUV appears identical on both sides. When you view the vehicle, several exterior features become immediately visible. Viewing the AUV from the port side reveals the plastic nose cone containing the instrument cluster on your left (at the front of the vehicle) with the tail section on your right. The transport handle is located on top of the carbon-fibre hull on the opposite side of the fixed buoyancy weights and pinger, which are located on the bottom of the hull. The aluminium tail section of the vehicle houses the vehicle’s motor and connects to the control fins and propeller. The WiFi and GPS antennae are housed in the clear plastic tower on top of the rear half of the vehicle.
Deployable by one person, the EcoMapper is easy to set up and run. It can operate for up to 10-hour run times at 3 knots, providing a continuous data stream from 10 water quality sensors and bathymetry.
Key Applications include:
- Bathymetry
- Spatial Water Quality Monitoring
- Baseline Monitoring
- Source Water Mapping
- Event Response
- Bottom Mapping
- Point Source and Non-point Source Mapping
- Camera / Video
YSI EcoMapper AUV Specifications
| Communication | 2.4 GHz radio link when on the surface to download missions and upload collected data | |
| Control | Four independent control planes | |
| Dimensions | Diameter | 5.8 in, 14.73 cm |
| Length | 60.1 in, 152.6 cm standard; 63.6 in, 160.8 cm with DVL | |
| Weight | 45 lbs, 20.4 kg standard; 60 lbs, 27.2 kg with DVL | |
| Endurance | 8-14 hours at speed of 2.5 knots | |
| Energy | 600-800 WHrs of rechargeable Lithium-Ion batteries (>300 cycles) | |
| External Hook-up | Data | Wireless 802.11g 2.4 Ghz Ethernet |
| Power | 2-pin DC charge voltage in | |
| Navigation | Surface: GPS (WAAS corrected); Subsurface: Bottom tracking or water tracking with DVL; or dead reckoning with compass | |
| Onboard Electronics | Intel processor with Windows XP; 80 GB disk drive for data collection | |
| Propulsion System | 2-blade cast bronze propeller | |
| Sensors | CTD (conductivity, temperature, depth); salinity; blue-green algae; chlorophyll; dissolved oxygen; ORP; pH; rhodamine; turbidity | |
| Sonar | Side-scan | |
| Speed Range | 1-4 knots | |
| Doppler Velocity Log |
6-Beam DVL for navigation, bathymetry, current profiling (down) |
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