Unmanned surface vessel (USV) systems for bridge inspection : final report.

Details

• Creators:
  Von Ellenrieder, Karl ; Wampler, Jared
• Corporate Creators:
  Florida Atlantic University. Department of Ocean & Mechanical Engineering
• Contributors:
  Hutchinson, Ed
• Corporate Contributors:
  Florida. Dept. of Transportation. Research Center
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Bridges
  • Field tests
  • Inspection
  • Robotics
  • Sonar
  • Acoustic sensors
  • autonomous surface vessels
  • proof of concept
  • standard operating procedures
  • underwater imaging systems
  More +
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States ; Florida
• Edition:
  Final report
• Corporate Publisher:
  Florida. Department of Transportation. Research Center
• Abstract:
  The use of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) for bridge inspection has been explored. The following issues were considered: (1) the requirements of and ; current techniques utilized in on-water bridge inspection; (2) USV design and configuration considerations for USV-based bridge inspection; (3) use of ; acoustic sensing techniques for imaging underwater bridge structures and channel bottom features; (4) the control and dynamic positioning of USVs for ; bridge inspection; (5) the use of advanced robotics techniques for improving vehicle navigation under bridges and the mapping of bridge features; and lastly, ; (6) recommendations for the addition of standard operating procedures to accommodate the use of USVs for bridge inspection. A proof of concept system ; was developed and tested using an existing USV at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) outfitted with a real-time imagining sonar. Field experiments were ; conducted with the system at several sites near the city of Carrabelle, Florida and in Dania Beach, Florida. Live demonstrations of the system were also ; conducted at the 2015 Florida Automated Vehicles Summit. The system was able to autonomously collect images of bridge structures, both underwater and ; at the waterline, by traversing a series of preprogrammed waypoints along a bridge and station-keeping at locations of interest. The results of the field tests ; and background literature survey are presented, and a set of recommendations for use of USV-based bridge inspection systems is given. It is suggested that ; the application of advanced robotics techniques for Human-Robot-Interaction and autonomous mapping/imaging can improve the preliminary inspection ; approach implemented during this study.
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• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  FDOT Contract Number: BDV27-977-07
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/31206/dot_31206_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 6.40 MB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:911c79998888cae197e02366bf8c6f631f6178e33f8445037ff3d63e6e49a214