Welcome to the HoverGroup wiki. This page focuses on hardware and testing, see http://web.mit.edu/hovergroup for general lab information.
Introduction/Overview
Our The HoverGroup Autonomous Kayaks primarily serve as a testbed for multi-vehicle control using acoustic communication. Our experimental setup includes 2 (soon to be 3) kayaks, a portable networking base station and MicroModem, and a permanent shore setup at the MIT Sailing Pavilion. We also operate the Bluefin/MIT HAUV and a REMUS 100. The HoverGroup Autonomous Kayaks primarily serve as a testbed for multi-vehicle control using acoustic communication. The main payload of the kayaks is a WHOI MicroModem, towed a few meters deep. GPS and RF communication are available on the surface, allowing for easy navigation and real-time monitoring of experiments, while the towed modem enables experiments in the underwater acoustic environment. Other scientific sensors can be added, we have previously operated with temperature and turbidity sensors.
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Main computer box: power regulators, Arduino and shield, Gumstix, MicroModem boards, RC controller, USB hub
Motor Controller box
Comms box (Freewave)
Power
(brand?) LiFePo 100 Ah batteries, 12V nominal. (Option for two batteries)
Regulated power: 12V, 6V, 5V
Propulsion
Minn-Kota Riptide 55 trolling motor
Robotec motor driver
Steering servo: (servocity MEGA servo)
Communications
Acoustic: WHOI MicroModem (25 KHz transducer, WH-BT 2), 4-element receive array (HTI-96 MIN)http://acomms.whoi.edu/umodem/documentation.html
RF: 802.11 Wifi, Freewave (more details?), RC controller
Sensors
Navigation: Ocean Server OS5000 compass, uBlox NEO GPS
Computation:
Arduino Mega (low-level sensors and control)
Gumstix Overo Fire (running Linux, MOOS)
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