IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v13y2020i21p5637-d436115.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessment of the Steering Precision of a Hydrographic USV along Sounding Profiles Using a High-Precision GNSS RTK Receiver Supported Autopilot

Author

Listed:
  • Łukasz Marchel

    (Department of Navigation and Hydrography, Polish Naval Academy, Śmidowicza 69, 81-127 Gdynia, Poland)

  • Cezary Specht

    (Department of Geodesy and Oceanography, Gdynia Maritime University, Morska 81-87, 81-225 Gdynia, Poland)

  • Mariusz Specht

    (Department of Transport and Logistics, Gdynia Maritime University, Morska 81-87, 81-225 Gdynia, Poland)

Abstract

Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV) are increasingly used to perform numerous tasks connected with measurements in inland waters and seas. One of such target applications is hydrography, where traditional (manned) bathymetric measurements are increasingly often realized by unmanned surface vehicles. This pertains especially to restricted or hardly navigable waters, in which execution of hydrographic surveys with the use of USVs requires precise maneuvering. Bathymetric measurements should be realized in a way that makes it possible to determine the waterbody’s depth as precisely as possible, and this requires high-precision in navigating along planned sounding profiles. This paper presents research that aimed to determine the accuracy of unmanned surface vehicle steering in autonomous mode (with a Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller) along planned hydrographic profiles. During the measurements, a high-precision Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Real Time Kinematic (RTK) positioning system based on a GNSS reference station network (positioning accuracy: 1–2 cm, p = 0.95) and a magnetic compass with the stability of course maintenance of 1°–3° Root Mean Square (RMS) were used. For the purpose of evaluating the accuracy of the vessel’s path following along sounding profiles, the cross track error (XTE) measure, i.e., the distance between an USV’s position and the hydrographic profile, calculated transversely to the course, was proposed. The tests were compared with earlier measurements taken by other unmanned surface vehicles, which followed the exact same profiles with the use of much simpler and low-cost multi-GNSS receiver (positioning accuracy: 2–2.5 m or better, p = 0.50), supported with a Fluxgate magnetic compass with a high course measurement accuracy of 0.3° ( p = 0.50 at 30 m/s). The research has shown that despite the considerable difference in the positioning accuracy of both devices and incomparably different costs of both solutions, the authors proved that the use of the GNSS RTK positioning system, as opposed to a multi-GNSS system supported with a Fluxgate magnetic compass, influences the precision of USV following sounding profiles to an insignificant extent.

Suggested Citation

  • Łukasz Marchel & Cezary Specht & Mariusz Specht, 2020. "Assessment of the Steering Precision of a Hydrographic USV along Sounding Profiles Using a High-Precision GNSS RTK Receiver Supported Autopilot," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-19, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:21:p:5637-:d:436115
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/21/5637/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/21/5637/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chengxing Lv & Haisheng Yu & Zhili Hua & Lei Li & Jieru Chi, 2018. "Speed and Heading Control of an Unmanned Surface Vehicle Based on State Error PCH Principle," Mathematical Problems in Engineering, Hindawi, vol. 2018, pages 1-9, January.
    2. Mariusz Specht & Cezary Specht & Andrzej Wilk & Władysław Koc & Leszek Smolarek & Krzysztof Czaplewski & Krzysztof Karwowski & Paweł S. Dąbrowski & Jacek Skibicki & Piotr Chrostowski & Jacek Szmaglińs, 2020. "Testing the Positioning Accuracy of GNSS Solutions during the Tramway Track Mobile Satellite Measurements in Diverse Urban Signal Reception Conditions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-19, July.
    3. Tomasz Szot & Cezary Specht & Mariusz Specht & Pawel S Dabrowski, 2019. "Comparative analysis of positioning accuracy of Samsung Galaxy smartphones in stationary measurements," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(4), pages 1-19, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Songyan Niu & Qingyu Zhao & Haibiao Chen & Hang Yu & Shuangxia Niu & Linni Jian, 2022. "Underwater Wireless Charging System of Unmanned Surface Vehicles with High Power, Large Misalignment Tolerance and Light Weight: Analysis, Design and Optimization," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-19, December.
    2. Artur Makar, 2022. "Determination of the Minimum Safe Distance between a USV and a Hydro-Engineering Structure in a Restricted Water Region Sounding," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-17, March.
    3. Mariusz Specht & Cezary Specht & Andrzej Stateczny & Łukasz Marchel & Oktawia Lewicka & Monika Paliszewska-Mojsiuk & Marta Wiśniewska, 2021. "Determining the Seasonal Variability of the Territorial Sea Baseline in Poland (2018–2020) Using Integrated USV/GNSS/SBES Measurements," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-15, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mariusz Specht & Cezary Specht & Paweł Dąbrowski & Krzysztof Czaplewski & Leszek Smolarek & Oktawia Lewicka, 2020. "Road Tests of the Positioning Accuracy of INS/GNSS Systems Based on MEMS Technology for Navigating Railway Vehicles," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-26, August.
    2. Andrzej Stateczny & Cezary Specht & Mariusz Specht & David Brčić & Alen Jugović & Szymon Widźgowski & Marta Wiśniewska & Oktawia Lewicka, 2021. "Study on the Positioning Accuracy of GNSS/INS Systems Supported by DGPS and RTK Receivers for Hydrographic Surveys," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-19, November.
    3. Mariusz Specht & Cezary Specht & Andrzej Wilk & Władysław Koc & Leszek Smolarek & Krzysztof Czaplewski & Krzysztof Karwowski & Paweł S. Dąbrowski & Jacek Skibicki & Piotr Chrostowski & Jacek Szmaglińs, 2020. "Testing the Positioning Accuracy of GNSS Solutions during the Tramway Track Mobile Satellite Measurements in Diverse Urban Signal Reception Conditions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-19, July.
    4. Mariusz Specht & Cezary Specht & Andrzej Stateczny & Paweł Burdziakowski & Paweł Dąbrowski & Oktawia Lewicka, 2022. "Study on the Positioning Accuracy of the GNSS/INS System Supported by the RTK Receiver for Railway Measurements," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-17, June.
    5. Jacek Tarnas & Nina Schaffert & Helena Elegańczyk-Kot & Leszek Kostański & Rafał Stemplewski, 2020. "Intra- and Inter-Device Reliability of the Change-of-Direction Angles Using a Smartphone Application for Sailing," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-7, May.
    6. Davor Šakan & Serdjo Kos & Biserka Drascic Ban & David Brčić, 2021. "On Linear and Circular Approach to GPS Data Processing: Analyses of the Horizontal Positioning Deviations Based on the Adriatic Region IGS Observables," Data, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-17, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:21:p:5637-:d:436115. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.