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In addition to the data communication channels, an RC controller can also be used to drive the kayak over short ranges. The details of this link will be discussed further in the next section.
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Sensors and Control
The key sensors for navigation are the compass and GPS. The compass is an OS5000 model from Ocean Server, which uses a serial interface and is fully tilt compensated. There are cheaper options for tilt compensated compasses, but the serial interface on the OS5000 is easy to work with and calibrated the compass is a simple process. Horizontal and vertical calibration can also be done independently, which is important because the vertical calibration can be difficult with the compass mounted in the kayak. Previous designs mounted the compass in the CPU box along with most of the other electronics (excluding the motor driver and freewave), but the compass was later moved to its own smaller enclosure mounted in the bow. This was done to separate the compass as much as possible from any noise sources. The compass enclosure is mounted at an angle, but the compass itself is mounted such that it is level when installed in the vehicle. This allows us to perform a horizontal calibration on the dock without removing the compass from the vehicle.
Consistent GPS performance is important when analyzing results of experiments.