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During my Senior year, I participated in Olin College's Senior Consulting Project in Engineering (SCOPE). Our team consisted of Kristina Cary, Andrew Coats, Nicholas Hays, Peter Massari, and myself, and we were advised by Professor Brian Bingham. We were asked by Schlumberger, Ltd to design and build an autonomous surface platform to support underwater acoustic imaging. The team built a 6-foot, 300-lb platform, outfitted with two electric trolling motors, an array of localization sensors, and a package of acoustic imaging equipment.
The boat includes a two independent GPS sensors, an inertial navigation unit, and a compass/tilt sensor. Computation is performed by an onboard x86 Linux computer, which interfaces with the the sensors and the motor controllers. I developed a data integration and logging software layer, termed the surface, which consisted of custom drivers for each peripheral, and a common data interface to higher-level control software. Using this layer, the team was able to collect and log data during field tests, and built a simulator which allowed us to develop control code in the lab.
Our acoustic package consisted of an underwater speaker and array of piezo-electric hydrophones. I volunteered to find a multi-channel data collection solution for our sensors, but no off-the-shelf solutions existed that fit our specifications (8-channel audible-range simultaneous sampling) and our budget. I developed my own watertight USB device for this purpose (playfully named the Magic Box which integrated into our existing data collection architecture. A rendering of a PCB prototype is shown at left.
I enjoyed serving as Project Manager for part of the project, communicating weekly with our sponsors through conference calls, preparing for bi-weekly design reviews with external reviewers, and coordinating tasks within our team. Schlumberger is currently looking to continue our work with the help of a graduate research lab at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Contents |
Media
Autonomous Surface Platform/Media Index
Project Overview
- Olin Field Robotics Lab
Project Management
My Role
- Software (C, real-time, wireless, autonomous, kernel drivers, USB, data collection)
- Firmware (PIC code)
- Circuit design
- PCB Layout
Conclusion
Notes
- Put lots of pictures here!
- Get most of the content from our midterm & final reports
- Presentation?