Page 17: of Marine Technology Magazine (April 2014)

Bot on Water” that can navigate without human interaction, using GPS/sensory data instead of pre-programmed way points. The Anaconda was used to con- duct missions during training at Emer- ald Warrior Challenge 2013, a two-week tactical exercise on the Gulf Coast spon- sored by the U.S. Special Operations

Command.

Special-Ops personnel from around the world gather yearly on the Gulf to participate in that exercise for urban and irregular warfare settings.

February’s demo of the remotely con- trolled AN-2 on the Atchafalaya was the fi rst step in developing Swiftships autonomous watercraft, Shah said. On

Feb. 18, Swiftships and ULL employ- ees, along with news reporters, U.S.

Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette, and U.S. Department of Commerce trade specialist Brie Knox, boarded the

AN-2 and zipped across the water. Josh- ua Vaughan, ULL assistant professor of mechanical engineering, piloted the ves- sel from his iPad.

Vaughan, along with mechanical engineering grad students Nicholas

Bergeron and Brett Marks, are part of the unmanned system’s development team. They’re working with lasers, cam- eras, ultra-sound and other sensors that gauge currents and waves to detect ob- stacles like logs in the water and oncom- ing boats. That information will fl ow to a computer system that steers and accel- erates the AN-2, mimicking the activi- ties of a human pilot.

Last month, Vaughan discussed the project’s research, hardware and perfor- mance steps or phases from the univer- sity’s standpoint. “Phase 1 was the dem- onstrated ability, conducted on Feb. 18, to issue commands to the boat’s controls – throttle, steering and clutches etc.,” he said. “It was the simple remote control of the boat.”

Phase 2 involves trajectory tracking. “In this stage, the Anaconda should be able to track simple pre-specifi ed trajec- tories – a combination of lines and arcs – in low wind/current conditions and in the absence of obstacles,” Vaughan said. “This phase demonstrates that we’re able to autonomously generate and track the basic building blocks for more com- plex trajectories.”

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