Unmanned Seaplane Takes Off

Unmanned Seaplane Takes Off

The Flying Fish
Flying fish were the inspiration for an unmanned seaplane, pictured here, with a 7-foot wingspan. Developed at the University of Michigan, the autonomous craft is believed to be the first seaplane that can initiate and perform its own takeoffs and landings on water.

For the first time, scientists have engineered an unmanned seaplane that can take off and land, independently, on water.

The Flying Fish autonomous vehicle, like its namesake, dwells mostly in the water. When the time comes, it takes off and flies over the waves at distances of tens to thousands of feet.

Equipped with GPS and eventually energy-harvesting solar cells, the UAV has the potential to expand the kinds of water-monitoring tasks currently limited by the expense of a ship or by the stationary nature of water buoys.

For example, a fleet of the autonomous crafts could be sprinkled across an ocean region, each gathering data in its own designated circle. When a plane reaches the edge of its circle, it could take off, fly to the opposite side of the monitoring area, land, and begin taking measurements again.

"They live in the water. They don't need a structure to be launched from or landed on and that makes them more independent," said team member Ella Atkins, associate professor of aerospace engineering and associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan.

The project is led by Guy Meadows, director of the university's Marine Hydrodynamics Laboratories and funded by the Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency as part of its "persistent ocean surveillance" program, which will result in a floating field of smart sensors designed to observe the undersea environment.

In a recent sea trial demonstration, the 20-pound craft used GPS and an onboard computer to take off and land in the water 22 times.

Although the seaplane's electric engine currently gets it power from a battery, the team hopes to add alternative energy harvesting equipment, such as solar panels. That could make the UAV "drop and go."

"If you can only deploy it for a few hours, you need ship there anywhere. Solar power is the key to being able to drive your ship away," said Atkins.

And that can save money. According to Hanumant Singh, an associate scientist who specializes in underwater imaging and robotics at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Woods Hole, Mass., a ship can cost $35,000 a day.

"We spend a lot of ship time driving in circles and doing the basic set-up work for an expedition," said Hanumant.

"The ability to take off from and land on water is a huge step forward," he said.

In addition, he said, a UAV such as the Flying Fish would allow scientists to maximize the amount of data that they accumulate on any given mission.

For example, when underwater robotic vehicles gather deep-ocean measurements or images, they transmit the data up to the water's surface via sonar. A ship needs to be directly over the underwater robot to capture the best signal. But if Singh had a Flying Fish, he would let the seaplane collect the data, while the ship performed other parts of the mission.

"Once it gets that, either we talk to [the plane] wirelessly or fly it back it to the ship," he said.

Before the Flying Fish is cruising the drafts above the waves, it will need more funding. The first step will be to outfit the seaplane with the solar cells and add more sensors.