Autonomous Control Package (ACP-1) - Controling subs under water

[mike d]

Question...I assume the most submarine modelers have been using devices like the APC-3 and APC-1 for a while now plus maybe a SES-II or something like it. I have now for quite a while and reliably in my sub. (Thank you SubTech, Great Stuff) I also assume the use of water and other sensors are used in most models too. And of course we all have radios to control servos. Well has anyone gone as far as adding sonar, digital compass and gps to there sub? Maybe using a Basic Stamp II or a Oopic as the controller, I mean we do it with land robots why not sub? Now if all this could be packaged into one slim modular design so that you can plug and play, choose not to install this component at this time but later. And all this would be controlled by a PC based OS or maybe via a Palm. Would it be something people would be interested in? How much would someone pay for such a device and the add on’s like the GPS engine?
How easy should it be to use, add on other devises, learn the OS etc.? Is this idea nuts or would it
be a cool device to have as long as it didn’t cost alot and it will fit in the smaller model
submarines out there so everyone could enjoy it?

Any feedback, good and bad, I would like the input from this group on the ACP-1.
Thank you

[feet wet]

Interesting idea,GPS is likely to

Interesting idea,GPS is likely to be a problem unless the antenna for it is exposed above the water,further more without differential or WAAS correctionsit might prove somewhat erratic for what you want.Lastly ,WAAS receivers are fairly suseptable to interference from other closely spaced
radio sources.

[kd6hq]

There is a project under

There is a project under way to add sonar by way of a fish finder product. The advantage of using the fish finder is that you have a video display of the bottom. So it’s not really “sonar” but interesting nonetheless.

As far as a digital compass and GPS goes (for me) I think I would pass. If I were in a project for an automated helicopter then it would be a different story. I have seen the contest between engineering students at some of the universities for this type of vehicle. In fact they were much more sophisticated. A R/C helicopter flew to an object picked it up, flew over a wall and deposited the object in a specific area. This was all done without any operator intervention.

Central controller]http://www.subcommittee.com/forum/icon_cool.gif[/img]

[no1_sonuk]

There is a project under

There is a project under way to add sonar by way of a fish finder product. The advantage of using the fish finder is that you have a video display of the bottom. So it’s not really “sonar” but interesting nonetheless.

IIRC, fish-finders come under the banner of "side-scan sonar". It is active sonar ("pinging" or ASDIC), rather than passive (listening). The image you get isn't a video image per se, it's a "sound-picture" - a visual represenation of echo-rangefinding, similar to a radar screen, though you don't usually get 3D radar images like you can with some fish-finders.

If you're fitting sonar, you could use a few fixed sonar transponders around your sailing area to allow the boat to triangulate its position, but GPS is a no-go unless your going to run with a periscope out of the water all the time, or a surface antenna towed behind.

The compass wouldn't be so much of a problem to fit and use, but the tight proximity to motors, etc will cause it some problems. Unless it's a gyrocompass.....

Microcontroller control would be pretty easy to implement. Some of the current "building-blocks" such as depth regulators, pitch controllers, etc can be used as sensors for the microcontroller to provide some autonomy, or the functions could be replicated and combined to form a complete "Conning block". Norbert Bruggen has a combined pitch and depth controller on his website.

[kd6hq]

Thanks for the clarification on

Thanks for the clarification on the sonar it’s appreciated.

Don

[bcliffe]

Mike,

Have you seen this?

http://www.auvsi.org/competitions/water.cfm

These folks

Mike,

Have you seen this?

http://www.auvsi.org/competitions/water.cfm

These folks go all out. Their budget is a little bigger though.

Cheers
BC