Competition Strategy

From our efforts in 2020 and 2021 to create a solid base for future competitions, we continued our strategy to compete with two Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) because of the advantages provided by the rules. For example, two AUVs can complement each other’s abilities, reducing hardware and software design complexity for both. Additionally, demonstrating communication capabilities between the two AUVs is an advanced behavior warranting special points. We deemed that the point benefits of running two AUVs far outweigh the cons of having  size constraints and weight penalties. The submarines will use the same mission planner loaded with different pre-planned targets and tasks assigned to different submarines. As a bonus, the team attempted inter-sub communication to optimize scoring capabilities and save water time in the competition. We did not make major changes to Græy’s mechanical and electrical components, saving time to develop and test software on a functional sub while designing our new AUV, Onyx. We were also able to integrate specialized sensors like hydrophones onto our new AUV’s larger frame and hull.

To maximize points, our strategy is to:  Compete with two AUVs, maintain simplicity with consistency, and make the most of competition run time and points with the inter-vehicle communication. The systems engineering process, the principle  of K.I.S.S. (keep it simple, silly), and the Agile process were integral in our success in previous years, so we continued using these processes to drive our team. To expand our knowledge and optimize our AUV, we designed custom hardware, software, and electrical components while buying commercial off the shelf parts to supplement as needed. 

Our goal for the competition is to complete every mission. Both AUVs will pass through the gate and spin to earn the style points and follow the orange paths. Græy’s additional task is to hit the buoys. Meanwhile, Onyx will utilize the hydrophones to locate the pinger that marks the octagon and torpedoes tasks, launch torpedoes, drop the team markers, surface in the octagon, and complete the chevron tasks. Through inter-sub communication, both AUVs will do missions based on the same image set (Earth or Abydos). 

To accomplish the missions, the AUVs rely heavily on our program’s ability to identify and classify objects, as well as navigating to the missions. Therefore, we also focused on improving the AUV’s software system to fulfill these goals. The programs on the AUV’s main computer serve a variety of purposes, including localization, perception, mission planning, and execution. We used You Only Look Once (YOLO) and Computer Vision (CV)  to identify the missions and differentiate whether the tasks corresponded to Earth or Abydos. Team members tested individual cameras asynchronously prior to system integration. To supplement navigational accuracy, we added the Blue Robotics Ping360 scanning imaging sonar.

We use Robot Operating System (ROS) to enable interprocess communication between the programs for a modular software system. Utilizing ROS with our software baseline has allowed for a more sophisticated structure where programs run simultaneously. Our codebase is cleaner and we are able to transfer data easily with the use of topics, channels, nodes, as well as ROS’s publishing and subscribing capabilities.

We continued to build on the electrical knowledge gained in previous competitions by updating Onyx’s electronics and Græy’s enclosure holders. We replaced some key elements of the electrical system, such as our power distribution board (adding hot-swap capabilities and more efficient and effective regulators), and a custom, high precision, hydrophone system. Onyx possesses a clean, organized wiring system, promoting more efficient electrical design.