MSU  RoboSub 2015

•             Our Mission

•           Existing Capstone 2 Sub

• RoboSub Competition 

The AUVSI RoboSub competition is a yearly competition where universities from all over the world create Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) that are programmed to complete a predetermined set of tasks.  A 15 minute run gives the AUV a chance to complete as many tasks as possible. Orange tape at the bottom of the pool helps guide the sub between each task.  Points will be awarded by a set of judges, depending on the degree of completion of each task.  The official rulebook for the competition is distributed to teams about six months before the competition and includes an explanation of each task.  This rulebook also states requirements for weight and allowable dimensions for the sub.  The sub is not allowed to touch the surface of the pool at all during the competition.  Breaking any of these rules will result in disqualification from the competition.  

    Location

The competition takes place at SSC Pacific TRANSDEC in San Diego.  This is the 18th international competition.  The competition is to be held July 20 - July 26 this year. It should be noted that the dates haven’t been announced for the 2016 competition, when our additions to the sub will be first used.  

Team Tasks and Objectives:

•             Meet the Team

Josh Robinson

Josh is a senior in Electrical Engineering and is in his first semester of Capstone. He is originally from Gillette, Wyoming and was drawn to Bozeman, Montana because of MSU’s outstanding Engineering Department as well as the natural beauty of the surrounding geographic aspects. Josh is enthusiastic about the future of Electrical Engineering and is primarily interested in Power and the progression towards the Smart Grid

robinsonjosh91@gmail.com 

Kyle Welliever

Kyle is originally from Billings, MT and is currently a senior majoring in Mechanical Engineering and minoring in Aerospace.  He enjoys anything and everything Bozeman.  His favorite activities are skiing, fishing, mountain biking, camping, floating, and frisbee with friends.  He will be working as a feild engineer intern for Kiewit in Wyoming this summer and plans to find a job in Montana upon graduating in December.

kwelliever@bccengineering.org

Nathan Althoff 

Nathan is originally from Billings, MT and is currently a senior in Mechanical Engineering.  His favorite thing to do is explore the outdoors.  More specifically, He enjoys camping, hiking, biking, skiing, and fishing.  He will be working as a technician at ExxonMobil Pipeline and taking online classes over the summer.  After finishing Capstone II next semester, he will receive his degree and will be promoted to an engineering position with ExxonMobil.

nathanjalthoff@gmail.com

Rohan Khante

Rohan is an Computer Engineering senior.  He enjoys activites like soccer, coding, video games and swimming

happykhante@gmail.com

Advisor

Todd J. Kaiser, PH.D

Associate Professor

Electrical & Computer Engineering

tjkaiser@ece.montana.edu

Sponsor

NAVSEA Keyport Undersea Warfare Division

Dylan Solomon

Test Vehicle Systems Engineer

UUV Production Engineering Branch

dylan.solomon@navy.mil

Libby Miller

ASW Training Target

Technical Project Manager

Libby.h.miller@navy.mil

Critical Subsystem

• There is not an existing pinger locator system being used on the Capstone 2 team’s Robosub
• The only task that doesn’t require following the orange line on the bottom of the pool
• This is the final task in the competition

• The Signal generator sends sounds through speaker, imitating the pinger

• Microphones mounted on framework receive the signal and display it on the oscilloscope

• Framework can be extended, demonstrating the how microphone distance affects output signals

The above two images show the signal generated when the triangular framework was in the smallest configuration.  The next two images show the signal when the trianglular framework was in the largest configuration allowed at competion (3 Feet).  An input 1kHz sine wave was played through a speaker directly in front of the configuration as shown.  Notice the differences in amplitude between the small and large configurations. 

Design Progress

Pneumatics

• Not part of the original project scope.
• We will be required to redesign and rebuild the capsule and pneumatic components.
• Existing pneumatics were removed from the sub
• Both the marker dropper and torpedo launcher will use the pnewmatic system
  

Marker Dropper

• Task Description
• This task is called the "Refuel" task.  There will be a black box surrounded by a 6" white border. Inside the bins will be silhouettes.  Points are awarded for dropping the marker in the bin.  
  

Block Diagram of Marker Dropper subsystem

Pinger Locator

• Task Description:

• This task consists of an acoustic pinger located off the floor of the pool.  Placed directly above the pinger, on a tower, is an object.  Floating above the pinger on the surface will be an octagon representing the return home.  In order to obtain full points for the octagon, the vehicle must surface fully inside the octagon.  The pinger will release a signal every 2 seconds in the range of 25-40 kHz.

• Hydrophone Selection

•              Teledyne RESON Hydrophone TC4013
• The above hydrophone was chosen because of its superior reciving sensitivity over the range of frequencies that will be used at competition (25-40) kHz.  It is also the same hydrophone used by the most successfull schools at competition.  
  

*Pinger Frequency Emitted 25kHz - 40kHz ***Valid*** ( Hydrophone Frequency Range as seen in table)

*Pinger Pulse Length 4ms ( Therefore Signal variable TAU is 250 Hz)

*Hydrophone is Omnidirectional (detects from several angles)

Torpedo Launcher

• Task Description

•     There will be a vertical square moored to the floor with two different size square cuttouts, the sizes, colors, and borders are unknown at this point.  Points will be awarded for firing torpedos through any cutout.