System and Method for Automated Rendezvous, Docking and Capture of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

Stone, William C [Inventor]Clark, Evan [Inventor]Richmond, Kristof [Inventor]Paulus, Jeremy [Inventor]Kapit, Jason [Inventor]Scully, Mark [Inventor]Kimball, Peter [Inventor]

关键词: AUTONOMY;    AUTONOMOUS DOCKING;    LIGHT EMITTING DIODES;    POSITION (LOCATION);    RENDEZVOUS GUIDANCE;    RODS;    TRANSMITTER RECEIVERS;    UNDERWATER VEHICLES;    PATENTS;    ANCHORS (FASTENERS);    INERTIAL NAVIGATION;    LUMINOUS INTENSITY;    SHAFTS (MACHINE ELEMENTS);    SIGNAL TRANSMISSION;    STRUCTURAL MEMBERS;   

RP-ID  :  US-Patent-9,873,495, US-Patent-Appl-SN-14/887,262

学科分类：人工智能

美国|英语

来源: NASA Technical Reports Server

【 摘 要 】

A system for automated rendezvous, docking, and capture of autonomous underwater vehicles at the conclusion of a mission comprising of comprised of a docking rod having lighted, pulsating (in both frequency and light intensity) series of LED light strips thereon, with the LEDs at a known spacing, and the autonomous underwater vehicle specially designed to detect and capture the docking rod and then be lifted structurally by a spherical end strop about which the vehicle can be pivoted and hoisted up (e.g., onto a ship). The method of recovery allows for very routine and reliable automated recovery of an unmanned underwater asset.