Flying Fish: A Persistent Ocean Surveillance Buoy with Autonomous Aerial Repositioning

摘要

Flying Fish is an unmanned aerial system that monitors the ocean as a drifting buoy that actively repositions itself via flight. This paper describes the vehicle design and flight test series aimed at autonomously maintaining a watch circle in the open ocean. Weighing just less than twenty pounds with a seven-foot wingspan, the twin-electric, dual boom tail, dual pontoon vehicle was designed to be aerodynamically and hydrodynamically stable and efficient for drift and flight operations in moderate sea states. Avionics includes custom flight management code with off the- shelf navigation and communication systems. Flight test results demonstrate the progression from radio-controlled to fully-autonomous flight in calm and variable open-water environments.