1. Rochester Institute of Technology
Design Project Management: Boeing Underwater Robotic Technologies [R13201]
January 2, 2019
Rochester Institute of Technology

2. Rochester Institute of Technology
Agenda
General Background Information
Motivation
Boeing Interests
Project Background/VOC
Questions
January 2, 2019
Rochester Institute of Technology

3. Background Information
Current Relationship
Co-op Program
Full-Time Hires
Academic Partnership
Research
Underwater Robotics Club
Senior Design Projects
Boeings Marine Background
Echo Ranger
January 2, 2019
Rochester Institute of Technology

4. Rochester Institute of Technology
Motivation
Boeing Motivation
Future research opportunities
RIT has no attachment to competitors
Technological advancements/fresh ideas
RIT Motivation
Improve relationship with major company
Underwater technology specialty
Student involvement
January 2, 2019
Rochester Institute of Technology

5. Boeing Areas of Interest
Limited Bandwidth Communications
Autonomous Systems
Energy Systems
Navigation Systems
Payloads and Sensors
January 2, 2019
Rochester Institute of Technology

6. Limited Bandwidth Communications
Background
Boeing is interested in a way of communicating quickly, and possibly discretely, underwater
Boeing currently uses acoustic based communications but they have short range and reveal the sender’s position
Radio Frequency based communications have difficulty operating at range underwater so traditional RF systems are unlikely a solution underwater
Boeing’s interest is currently in the methods of LED or Laser based communication
Sonardyne and WHOI are working to produce BlueComm, a short range, high transfer speed communicator using LEDs
January 2, 2019
Rochester Institute of Technology

7. Limited Bandwidth Communications - VOC
Category
Number
Description
Communicate in Underwater Environment
CA1
Communicate to surface
CA2
Communicate through surface
CA3
Communicate underwater
CA4
Suitable for long range
CA5
Suitable for short range
CA6
Fast communication
CA7
Secure communication
CA8
Operates through most water conditions
Attributes A1
Easy to implement A2
Interface/interchangable A3
Low power consumption
Constraints
CO1
Waterproof
CO2
Untethered
CO3
Utilizes new technologies
CO4
Fits within budget
Easy to Maintain M1
Requires infrequent maintenance M2
Easy to repair M3
Durable/rugged M4
Corrosion-resistant
Stakeholders
Possibly Dr. Swartzlander (we have been unable to get in contact with him)
Kevin Meredith - Boeing
Dr. Hensel - RIT Dept. Head
Boeing Customers
January 2, 2019
Rochester Institute of Technology

8. Autonomous Systems in Marine and Air Environments
What is autonomy & how does it work?
The ability of a machine to make decisions without human intervention. To that end, the goal of autonomy is to teach machines to be "smart" and act more like humans - artificial intelligence (AI)
Program the robot to respond a certain way to outside stimuli
Program and sensors work together to tell the robot what to do
Current Technologies in Autonomy
UAV – Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Aka “Drone” – example: RQ-1/MQ-1 Predator, MQ-9 Reaper, RQ-7 Shadow, etc.
Controlled either autonomously by onboard computers or remotely by a pilot in a ground station
AUV – Autonomous Underwater Vehicles
Operate independent of human input
Have commercial applications (oil and gas), military applications, and research applications
Current Boeing Technologies
Echo Ranger is autonomous
Boeing has a good handle on autonomy but would like to stay ahead of competitors
MQ-9 Reaper
RQ-1/MQ-1 Predator
Oil and gas – detailed maps of the
January 2, 2019
Rochester Institute of Technology

9. Autonomous Systems in Marine and Air Environments
Autonomy technology that is important to UAV development falls under the following categories
Sensor fusion:
Combining information from different sensors for use on board the vehicle
Communications:
Handling communication and coordination between multiple agents in the presence of incomplete and imperfect information
Path planning:
Determining an optimal path for vehicle to go while meeting certain objectives and mission constraints, such as obstacles or fuel requirements
Trajectory Generation (Motion planning):
Determining an optimal control maneuver to take to follow a given path or to go from one location to another
Trajectory Regulation:
The specific control strategies required to constrain a vehicle within some tolerance to a trajectory
Task Allocation and Scheduling:
Determining the optimal distribution of tasks amongst a group of agents, with time and equipment constraints
Cooperative Tactics:
Formulating an optimal sequence and spatial distribution of activities between agents in order to maximize chance of success in any given mission scenario
Oil and gas – detailed maps of the
January 2, 2019
Rochester Institute of Technology

10. Autonomous Systems in Marine and Air Environments
Autonomous System Technologies Research & Integration Laboratory (ASTRIL) is broadly interested in the area of Robotics and Unmanned/Autonomous Systems
Research focuses:
Simulation
Guidance
Navigation and Control for Unmanned, Aerial Vehicles in particular – algorithmic design and implementation to field experimentation of aerial robots
Current research areas: 1. GPS-denied Estimation and Navigation:
Development of robust algorithms to estimate the state (position, attitude and velocity) of UAVs in GPS-denied environments using a combination of Vision, LIDAR and Inertial Sensors
2. Obstacle Avoidance, Mapping and Navigation:
Development of algorithms for obstacle avoidance based on Vision for fixed wing and rotary aerial vehicles
3. Autonomous Landing on Moving Targets:
Design & implementation of a real-time, vision-based landing algorithm for an autonomous helicopter. The landing algorithm is integrated with algorithms for visual acquisition of the target (a helipad), and navigation to the target, from an arbitrary initial position and orientation plan to use vision for precise target detection and recognition
Underwater Mapping:
Using a combination of Vision and Inertial Sensors this project focuses on developing algorithms for mapping and navigation for autonomous vehicles
Oil and gas – detailed maps of the
January 2, 2019
Rochester Institute of Technology

11. Autonomous Systems in Marine and Air Environments
Stakeholders
Kevin Meredith – Boeing
Wants to plug in new modules to existing architecture
Boeing would like to research and develop new systems & technology that they don’t currently have
Interested in swarm robotics
Dr. Ed Hensel – RIT
Dr. Ferat Sahin – RIT
Advisor to Robotics Club
Sees potential senior design projects consisting of autonomy, navigation, and propulsion
Dr. Kolodziej – RIT
Current project (for imaging science)
Remote controlled
Targeting for an autonomous aircraft (future project)
Look into “Ardupilot”
To replace the usage of real aircrafts in order to take pictures
To airborne cameras
RIT Robotics Club
Has IGVC (Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition) experience
Teams design and build an autonomous ground vehicle capable of completing several difficult challenges
RIT has placed very well recently (3rd place last year)
January 2, 2019
Rochester Institute of Technology

12. Autonomous Systems in Marine and Air Environments
Objective Tree
January 2, 2019
Rochester Institute of Technology

13. Rochester Institute of Technology
Energy Systems
Background
Boeing’s Current Technology
Conformal Batteries
Boeing’s Interests
Energy Harvesting (Thermoelectrics and Motion)
Stirling Energy & Fuel Cell Development
Nuclear Power
Enhancing Battery Performance
January 2, 2019
Rochester Institute of Technology

14. Energy Systems – Current Research
Thermoelectric Devices
Solid state devices which can convert thermal energy into electrical energy 
Design for power generation applications
January 2, 2019
Rochester Institute of Technology

15. Rochester Institute of Technology
Energy Systems – VOC
Category
Number
Description
Attributes A1
Environmentally friendly A2
Operates in broad temperature ranges A3
Minimize weight A4
Reliable A5
Reduced refuel time
Energy
Storage
ES1
Able to store energy
ES2
High energy density
ES3
Reliable storage
ES4
Minimal energy decay
ES5
Energy stored safely
Energy Generation
EG1
Reliable generation
EG2
Minimize heat losses
EG3
Maximize efficiency
Constraints
CO1
Fits within budget
CO2
Fits within package
CO3
Waterproof
CO4
Incorporate new technologies
CO5
Untethered
Easy to Maintain M1
Requires infrequent maintenance M2
Easy to repair M3
Durable/rugged M4
Corrosion-resistant M5
Able to detect problems with system
Stakeholders
Dr. Stevens
Dr. Kolodziej
Kevin Meredith
January 2, 2019
Rochester Institute of Technology

16. Rochester Institute of Technology
Navigation Systems
Background
Current Boeing technology
Inertial Navigation currently used in Echo Ranger
GPS for surface navigation, position correction
Problems associated with "drift" in Inertial Systems
RIT Research
Dr. Crassidis is developing an inertial navigation system which minimizes drift
Typical Pizoelectric Accelerometer
January 2, 2019
Rochester Institute of Technology

17. Navigation Systems - VOC
Stakeholders
Category
Number
Description
Navigate Underwater
CA1
Navigate effectively for long periods
CA2
Able to avoid obstacles
CA3
Maximize submersion times
CA4
Navigate unfamiliar territory
CA5
Navigate known territory
Attributes A1
Efficient movements A2
Minimize drift A3
Undetectable
Constraints
CO1
Waterproof
CO2
Untethered
CO3
Fits within budget
Easy to Maintain M1
Requires infrequent maintenance M2
Easy to repair M3
Durable/Rugged M4
Corrosion-resistant M5
Easily upgradable M6
Reliable
Dr. Hensel
Dr. Crassidis
Kevin Meredith
January 2, 2019
Rochester Institute of Technology

18. Rochester Institute of Technology
Payloads and Sensors
Background
The underwater vehicle is simply a mode of transportation for customers
Payload – Any devices or instrumentation that the customer wants to utilize underwater
Projects would be driven by Boeing’s customers’ needs
Payload Systems of interest:
Sensor packages – modular
Smaller, secondary robotic vessels
Further defined by customer research
Echo Ranger
January 2, 2019
Rochester Institute of Technology

19. Payloads and Sensors - VOC
Stakeholders
Dr. Walter - RIT
Dr. Kempski - RIT (possible - still need to set up contact)
Dr. Borkholder
Kevin Meredith - Boeing
Dr. Hensel - RIT Dept. Head
Boeing Customers
Category
Number
Description
Sensors S1
Able to interpret data S2
Low power consumption S3
Able to collect desired data S4
Able to detect objects/obstacles
Payloads P1
Able to deliver payload P2
Eliminate self-interference
Attributes A1
Reliable A2
Compatibility with platform A3
Minimize weight A4
Low cycle time A5
Modular
Constraints
CO1
Waterproof
CO2
Fits within package
CO3
Fits within budget
CO4
Untethered
Easy to Maintain M1
Requires infrequent maintenance M2
Easy to repair M3
Durable/rugged M4
Corrosion-resistant
January 2, 2019
Rochester Institute of Technology

20. Underwater Robotics Club
Background
It’s RIT’s hope that an Underwater Robotics Club will spawn from student interest with collaboration from Boeing
The club will eventually assemble the components produced by senior design teams
The club will have the opportunity to compete in underwater robotics competitions
Image from: www. robotshop.com
January 2, 2019
Rochester Institute of Technology

21. Rochester Institute of Technology
Q&A
Do you know any faculty who we haven’t talked to yet that have research interest in any of these areas?
Does anyone have interest in joining the Underwater Robotics Club?
Do you have any questions, comments, or concerns for us?
January 2, 2019
Rochester Institute of Technology