NEW DRONE Courtesy of HybridRobotics
MAKES A BUZZ AND A SPLASH
Capt. Marc Deglinnocenti (oldarmada@gmail.com)
A new type of aerial drone was unveiled at Underwater Intervention 2020 in New Orleans, USA. It’s the Trifecta of new technologies. It flies through the air like an Unmanned Air System (UAS), lands on water, and will soon be able to propel itself as an Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV). But wait, it does even more than that. It can then send a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) beneath the waves controlled and powered via a tether! This achievement will drastically reduce the time needed to place the new HybridRobotics model Catalina UAS on station. It flies at 48.28 kph (30 mph) which is a great deal faster than even the larger size USVs. It can do quite a few things once it’s deployed too. After the Catalina lands on waves up to 1.52 meters (5 ft) high, it can then deploy its custom-made light weight 4.12 kg (9.1 lbs) ROV, the Cavalla, to a depth of 100.6 meters (330 ft). Yes, it can support other brands of ROVs too, but ROV weight is a concern. The author recommends the small Sofar Ocean, Trident ROV which weighs 3.4 kg (7.5 lbs) if you really need to use an alternative ROV. It’s also small, light, and surprisingly aerodynamic. The HybridRobotics ROV is just fine though.
The ROV Cavalla can support a sonar, a gripper, and various water quality sensors. It has a built-in accelerometer, a gyroscope for enhanced stability, two LED lights at 1500 lumens each, magnetometer for compass bearings, and GPS along with a tilting camera. The Cavella battery life right now is rated at 1 hour, but I had a chat with their Co-Founder and Director of Research and Design Aaron Bottke about that. I recommended the installation of shape conforming solar panels to increase both the Catalina flight time and the Cavalla dive time. Aaron Bottke informed me that they already have a company working on such a solar panel bid now. I then recommended the addition of navigation lights, and I was told that they are currently being manufactured. I then recommended underwater thrusters on the Catalina itself. Mr. Bottke said that their UAV will have thrusters as a must, but they are still working on the design. I then pointed him toward a Small Water Area Twin Hull (SWATH) design. This will allow for surface propulsion while vastly increasing the stability of the Catalina on the water surface. This will also have a direct impact on helping to solve the Light Detection and Ranging (LiDar) performance issues
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