Aqua-Quad - solar powered, long endurance, hybrid mobile vehicle for persistent surface and underwater reconnaissance, part I - platform design

The development of a novel hybrid autonomous vehicle, Aqua-Quad, is presented, which combines a multi-rotor vertical take off and landing aircraft with environmentally hardened electronics, exchangeable sensor suite and a solar recharge system in order to provide long endurance sensing in aquatic environments in support of a variety of missions. The vehicle is envisioned to perform sensing below the thermocline while silently riding on ocean currents, and flying in the air when required for rapid relocation or local communication (12-20 miles) with similar cooperative nodes. The vehicle instrumentation combines (i) INS/GPS and aircraft control, data processing, and command and control (C2) capabilities of a VTOL aircraft, (ii) sensing and signal processing capabilities of an underwater robot with a vector sensor suspended below the thermocline, and (iii) solar energy harvesting for energy-independent operation. The Aqua-Quad is most effective when multiple cooperative vehicles are deployed in an operational area with heterogeneous sensors. It is envisioned that the extended endurance and quiet operation of the multi-modal sensing vehicles, capable of on-demand communication, higher mobility, and cooperative reaction to potential threats could provide higher operational efficiency of the system in undersurface surveillance and reconnaissance operations than currently employed systems (e.g., Sonobuoy, Wave Glider, etc.).

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