Design and development of Remotely Operated Unmanned Surface Vehicle for Oceanographic studies
Vikranth Teppala, R. Srinivasan, S.S.V.S Rama Krishna, Killampalli Rajesh
Abstract
Autonomous & Remotely operated unmanned surface vehicles in oceanographic studies have been increasing in recent years. Not all the surface vehicle platforms are suitable for all oceanographic application. The geographical area of oceanographic study plays a key role in the designing of the surface vehicle platform. In this study, a Remotely Operated Unmanned Surface Vehicle (ROUSV) is designed for oceanographic studies such as air-sea interaction at the coastal area and spatial & temporal variation of salinity and surface water temperature in the estuary from estuary head to estuary mouth. A suitable ROUSV is designed, simulated, fabricated, tested, and collected the oceanographic data at the study area successfully. Air-sea flux estimation study is done by ROUSV at Coral Beach, Vaisakhi Bay, Mangamaripeta, Visakhapatnam coastal area, Andhra Pradesh, East coast of India 17.7246404N 83.3286702E Bay of Bengal (BOB) sea. Collected oceanographic parameters by the ROUSV are Sea Surface Temperature (SST), air temperature, ambient humidity, this data utilized to estimate the sensible and latent heat flux rate by indirect calculation of flux by means of the bulk formula method. Observed Sea Surface Temperature ranges from 24.19°C to 23.31°C, ambient air temperature varies in between 28.9°C to 23.33°C ambient humidity ranges from 61.83% to 61.60%. Calculated sensible heat flux various in between 14.72 w/m <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> to -1.23w/m <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> and Latent heat flux various between 56.96 w/m <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> to 22.37w/m <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> over East Indian Coastal Current on 06/02/2019 from 8:30am IST to 9:12am IST. Spatial & temporal variation of salinity and surface water temperature data collected from estuary head to estuary mouth conducted at Bhavanapadu estuary (18.5616 N 84.3494 E) at North East coast of Andhra Pradesh, adjoining the Bay of Bengal Sea. A portable SEABIRD CTD 37SM_RS232_041 is attached to the platform and operated in the estuary from estuary head to estuary mouth on 25/03/2020 at 11:38am IST, it is noticed that the surface water temperature is increasing from estuary mouth to estuary head from 28.1°C to 28.7°C, the surface water salinity is also increasing from the estuary mouth to the estuary head 33.3psu to 32.3psu.