Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Ocean quadcopters: persistent and autonomous aerial surveillance of large maritime areas by quadcopters self-powered by ocean waves

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Marine Systems & Ocean Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this work consideration is given to the possibility for persistent aerial surveillance of oceans by means of quadcopters capable of taking off and landing on the sea and charging their batteries by the waves from the ocean. Clusters of relatively inexpensive ocean quadcopters equipped with conventional CCD cameras could be scattered over large and abandoned maritime areas to perform continuous and random aerial surveillance of the region. Utilizing a simple physical model, the feasibility of this novel approach for monitoring large maritime areas is assessed. Additional R & D is required in order to explore the possibilities offered by oceans quadcopters

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

No new data were created or analysed during this study. Data sharing is not applicable to this article.

Abbreviations

\(A=\) :

Area

\(B_e=\) :

Magnetic induction field

\(D_b=\) :

Battery specific energy

\(g=\) :

Gravity

\(l_e=\) :

Length of wire/magnet

\(L=\) :

Total length of wire loop

\(M=\) :

Total mass of quadcopter

\(m_b=\) :

Mass of battery

\(m_c=\) :

Mass of converter

\(N_e=\) :

Number of turns of the wire loop

\(P_d=\) :

Power of the quadcopter

\(P_e=\) :

Time-averaged power inductance generator

\(r_e=\) :

Wire loop, magnet radius

\(R_e=\) :

Load resistance

\(s=\) :

Wire cross-section area

\(t_c=\) :

Charging time

\(t_f=\) :

Flight time

\(v=\) :

Velocity

\(x_o=\) :

Amplitude oscillation of magnet

\(z_o=\) :

Amplitude oscillation heaving body

\(\rho =\) :

Density

\(\Psi =\) :

Wave parameter given by Eq.(7)

\(\omega =\) :

Ocean wave frequency

\(c=\) :

Converter

\(d=\) :

Drone/quadcopter

\(m=\) :

Magnet

\(p=\) :

Propeller

\(w=\) :

Wire

References

  1. C. Whitt, J. Pearlman, B. Polagye, F. Caimi, F. Karger Muller, A. Copping, H. Spence, S. Madhusudhana, W. Kirkwood, L. Grosjean et al., Future vision for autonomous ocean observations. Front. Mar. Sci. 7, 24 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. S. Guan, H. Sirianni, G. Wang, Z. Zhu, sUAS monitoring of coastal environments: a review of best practices from field to lab. Drones 6, 142 (2022)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Y. Zhang, Q.Z. Li, F.N. Zang, Ship detection for visual maritime surveillance from non-stationary platforms. Ocean Eng. 141, 53–63 (2017)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. S. Fefilatyev, D. Goldgof, M. Shreve, C. Lembke, Detection and tracking of ships in open sea with rapidly moving buoy-mounted camera system. Ocean Eng. 54, 1–12 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. P. Wang, X. Tian, X. Liang, X. Guo, X. Li, X. Zhang, Development of the control system for a wave driven glider. Ocean Eng. 229, 108813 (2021)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Z. Zeng, L. Lian, K. Sammut, F. He, Y. Tang, A. Lammas, A survey on path planning for persistent autonomy of autonomous underwater vehicles. Ocean Eng. 110, 303–313 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. X. Sun, Y. Zhou, H. Sang, P. Yu, S. Zhang, Adaptive path following control for Wave gliders in time-varying environment. Ocean Eng. 218, 108165 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. T. Omholt. A wave activated electric generator. Proceeding, Ocean 78, Marine Technology Conference. Washington, D.C., June, paper 7.3 (1978)

  9. M.E. McCormick, Ocean wave energy conversion (Dover Publication, INC, Mineola, New York, 1981)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Fluid Mechanics, Polytechnic University of Catalonia, ESEIAAT C/ Colom 11, 08222, Barcelona, Spain

    Francisco J. Arias & Salvador De Las Heras

Authors
  1. Francisco J. Arias
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Salvador De Las Heras
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Francisco J. Arias.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The author declares that he has no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the reported work.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Arias, F.J., Heras, S.D.L. Ocean quadcopters: persistent and autonomous aerial surveillance of large maritime areas by quadcopters self-powered by ocean waves. Mar Syst Ocean Technol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40868-024-00134-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40868-024-00134-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation