• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.402-409
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• 2018

This paper describes the plan and procedure of a development test and evaluation that will be performed to verify the performance and technology of multi-mission unmanned surface vehicles (MMUSVs). In order to verify the design requirement of MMUSVs, we designed and manufactured the common platform of MMUSVs, which have an overall length of8.4 m, a displacement of 3,100 kg, and a speed of more than35 kts. The platform is equipped with several sub-systems, including radar and an EOTS/IRS. The EOTS/IRS, along with the search radar, is used for effective detection, identification, and targeting. The core technologies of MMUSV for DT&E will be investigated. The common platform design technologies, remote operating and control system technologies, autonomous navigation technologies, and unmanned operational technology of sensors and equipment will be studied for the development of the MMUSV's core technologies. The system will be able to make precise observations and track targets both manually and automatically during day and night conditions. Currently, the verification tests for each of the technologies and for the integrated system are in the pipeline for DT&E, which will be performed next year. Also, software reliability and life tests will be performed.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.53-57
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• 2009

Unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) conduct various missions while exchanging information with control centers. Maritime security, coastal surveillance, and sea surface and undersea inspections are included in the important missions of USVs. To carry out these missions, large amounts of information are required from sensors, such as cameras, radars, and sonars. High bandwidth wireless communication is necessary to send this information to the control center in real time. In general, USVs are made using small boats. The motions of small boats are easily influenced by sea waves and the magnitude of changes in the attitude is large and the period of the changes is short in comparison with large ships. Thus, the direction of an antenna beam pattern for a wireless communication system in a USV can change rapidly, and with a large magnitude. In addition, since the reflection of electromagnetic waves on the sea surface is not negligible, the effect of multipath noises on the wireless communication system must be considered carefully. There are also several other elements that negatively affect wireless communication systems in USVs. This paper presents the wireless communication environment to be considered in the design and implementation of wide bandwidth communication systems for USVs. Short test results for wireless communication on the sea are also given.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.8-14
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• 2011

RIB(Rigid Inflatable Boat) is widely used for coastal transportation in the commercial use and for ISR(Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance) in the military use. Since RIB is around 10 meters in length and over 30 knots in speed, its motion characteristics in waves is quite different from a large scale ship. When it turns, large roll occurs and heeling direction is opposite to the large ship's case. Currently, many countries are developing USV(Unmanned Surface Vehicle) of which type is RIB. In order to develop high performance autopilot and way point controller, it is very important to identify RIB's motion characteristics. In this paper, sea trial test results of a 7-meter RIB such as speed, turning, zig-zag, and way point control tests were represented and its resistance and propulsion model was identified by using sea trial data and Savitsky's formula. In addition, the state space model which will be used in the identification of the four-degree-of-freedom dynamics in the next step was formulated and the identification procedure was proposed.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.87-99
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• 2015

In recent years, the development of autonomous surface vehicles has been a field of increasing research interest. There are two major areas in this field: control theory and path planning. This study focuses on path planning, and two objectives are discussed: path planning for Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) and implementation of path planning in a real map. In this paper, satellite thermal images are converted into binary images which are used as the maps for the Finite Angle $A^*$ algorithm ($FAA^*$), an advanced $A^*$ algorithm that is used to determine safer and suboptimal paths for USVs. To plan a collision-free path, the algorithm proposed in this article considers the dimensions of surface vehicles. Furthermore, the turning ability of a surface vehicle is also considered, and a constraint condition is introduced to improve the quality of the path planning algorithm, which makes the traveled path smoother. This study also shows a path planning experiment performed on a real satellite thermal image, and the path planning results can be used by an USV.

• Advances in robotics research
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.161-182
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• 2018

This paper proposes a novel receding horizon control (RHC) algorithm for formation control of a swarm of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) using particle swarm optimization (PSO). The proposed control algorithm provides the coordinated path tracking of multi-agent USVs while preventing collisions and considering external disturbances such as ocean currents. A three degrees-of-freedom kinematic model of the USV is used for the RHC with guaranteed stability and convergence by incorporating a sequential Monte Carlo (SMC)-based particle initialization. An ocean current model-based estimator is designed to compensate for the effect of ocean currents on the USVs. This method is compared with the PSO-based RHC algorithms to demonstrate the performance of the formation control and the collision avoidance in the presence of ocean currents through numerical simulations.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
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• 2022.11a
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• pp.184-185
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• 2022

국제해사기구(IMO)에서는 2017년 미래선박으로서 자율운항선박(MASS)의 개념을 채택한 바 있으며, 실해역 운항을 위한 국제법규 및 규정 검토를 진행하고 있다. 무인선은 악천후시 유인선이 수행하기 힘든 임무를 대체하거나 지원하기 위하여 원격 혹은 자율적으로 운용되는 일종의 소형 자율운항선박을 의미한다. 선박해양플랜트연구소에서는 2011년부터 해양수산부 연구개발사업을 통하여, 무인선 아라곤호 시리즈를 개발하였으며, 아라곤1호, 2호, 3호 등 총 3척을 운용하고 있다. 해당 선박은 길이 8미터, 배수량 약 3톤급의 활주선형으로 원격운항, 경로추종 및 충돌회피 등 자율운항 기능이 적용되어 있다. 한편, 무인선은 공중 드론과 달리 탑재중량이 크고, 항속시간이 길어 해상에서 감시,첩보, 정찰 등에 효용성이 높으며, 최근 한척보다는 여러 척을 운용하는 것이 효과적이어서 무인선 군집(USV Swarm)으로 해상임무를 수행하려는 연구가 다양하게 진행되고 있다. 선박해양플랜트연구소에서는 2019년부터, 기존의 아라곤호 시리즈 무인선들을 활용하여, 무인선 군집 자율운항 시스템 개발을 위한 "인공지능 기반 무인선 상황인식 및 자율운항 기술 개발" 과제를 진행하고 있다. 해상에서 불법선박이 출현시 이를 효과적으로 단속하기 위하여 추적 기동이 필요한데, 본 연구에서는 무인선 3척을 활용하여 불법선박을 추적하는 해상 감시 실해역 시험을 수행하였다. 본 논문에서는 무인선 군집 자율운항 시스템에 대하여 소개하고, 무인선 군집을 활용한 불법선 추적에 관한 실해역 시험결과에 대해 소개한다.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.47-55
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• 2024

The paper presents a docking-type automatic landing system that works in tandem with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs). The system utilizes a pyramid-shaped landing gear and pad for effective landing. In marine environments, a docking device guides the drone to land securely. To test the system, a ship's behavior was simulated using a 3-DoF motion platform, and the successful operation and utility of the docking-type automatic landing system were demonstrated.

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.332-338
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• 2017

Launch and recovery system(LARS) is required to perform an USV-based underwater exploration. Through the analysis of the requirements according to the scenario of underwater exploration, the mechanism of LARS and the conceptual design of the mechanical parts of LARS are carried out. In addition, a USV motion can be induced due to environmental disturbances such as waves, so the detailed design of LARS for recovering the underwater tow-fish stably in consideration of the USV motion is performed. To verify the performance of launch and recovery operations, LARS and test bed were developed. The results show that the proposed LARS can stably launch and recovery an underwater tow-fish.

• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.23-33
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• 2019

Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) is being developed to do maritime survey and maritime surveillance at Korea Research Institute of Ships & Ocean engineering (KRISO). The goal is that USV should be operated at the maximum speed of 45 knots and it should be operated at sea state 4. Therefore the planing hull of USV should be excellent in resistance performance and manoeuvring performance. It is needed to check its performance using Experimental Fluid Dynamics (EFD), Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) or analytic method before designing the hull. In this study, resistance performance was analyzed by EFD and CFD. EFD with heave and pitch was performed at high speed towing system in Seoul National University. CFD was performed using SNUFOAM based on openFOAM with dynamic mesh to calculate running attitudes. The results of CFD were compared with EFD results. The results of CFD were resistance, running attitudes and wave height. The flow distribution and pressure distribution were also analyzed. The results of numerical resistance was under estimated than EFD. Even though the results of CFD have a slight limitation, it can be successfully used to estimate the resistance performance of planing hull. In addition it can be used as a supplement for EFD results.

• Asia-pacific Journal of Multimedia Services Convergent with Art, Humanities, and Sociology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.945-953
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• 2018

In this paper, we use 3-D LIDAR for obstacle detection and avoidance maneuver for autonomous unmanned operation. It is aimed to avoid obstacle avoidance in unmanned water under marine condition using only single sensor. 3D lidar uses Quanergy's M8 sensor to collect surrounding obstacle data and includes layer information and intensity information in obstacle information. The collected data is converted into a three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system, which is then mapped to a two-dimensional coordinate system. The data including the obstacle information converted into the two-dimensional coordinate system includes noise data on the water surface. So, basically, the noise data generated regularly is defined by defining a hypothetical region of interest based on the assumption of unmanned water. The noise data generated thereafter are set to a threshold value in the histogram data calculated by the Vector Field Histogram, And the noise data is removed in proportion to the amount of noise. Using the removed data, the relative object was searched according to the unmanned averaging motion, and the density map of the data was made while keeping one cell on the virtual grid map. A polar histogram was generated for the generated obstacle map, and the avoidance direction was selected using the boundary value.