The Iceberg Explorer (Fall 19 - Spring 20)

Python
Arduino
Robotics

The boundary between calving glacier and ocean is too dangerous for human exploration. As a result, the physics of ice melt in its natural environment has yet to be measured. In order to assists researchers doing these measurements, we built an ice-lander using the open-source BlueROV2. This remotely operated vehicle will navigate under water to the ice edge, land on the ice (hence the name 'ice-lander'), and probe the physical dynamics at the boundary between glacier and ocean. As a computer science sub-team working within a broader, multi-disciplinary project, we were assigned three tasks: (1) control the ROV from a 1km+ range, (2) add custom controls to the ROV, and (3) provide a method of scanning the topography of the glacier. The first task was creating a wireless network in order for the user to control the BlueROV from over one kilometer. We configured a network using two heavy duty ubiquiti routers, one connected to the BlueROV, and one connected to the control station. Using port forwarding and IP masking, we were able to create a wireless network to control the BlueROV from range. The second task was modifying the raspberry pi in order to extend the number of controls available to the user. By configuring the brain to a relay that then be triggered using a client/server script in order to trigger the additional controls. The last task was to create a way to map the topography and changes over time. This was solved using Agisoft, which utilized photogrammetry (the use of photos to reconstruct a 3D model). We created a python script that takes a video and renders it in Agisoft. We are a team of Electrical and Computer Science engineering students working with Jonathan Nash, a researcher with published work related to the Iceberg melting process in the Arctic. Project Lead: Jonathan Nash - nash.coas@oregonstate.edu CS Team: Michael Huang - huangmic@oregonstate.edu Coulby Nguyen - nguyenco@oregonstate.edu Isaac Peters - petersis@oregonstate.edu We acknowledge and thank our partners from the ECE Team: Andrew Victor - victoran@oregonstate.edu Ramiro Cabrera - cabrerra@oregonstate.edu Matthew Shilling - shillinm@oregonstate.edu Looking for the ECE Team's part? You can find their project here: https://eecs.oregonstate.edu/project-showcase/projects/?id=NCDYFawVwK2ZbAed

0 Lifts 

Awards

Artifacts

Name Description
Underwater ROV - Pool Movement In this video, we see the BlueROV2 in full motion, controlled by our laptop above water via wired connection.   Link
Underwater ROV - Depth Hold In this video, we see the ROV's ability to hold in place automatically. An important feature should the host software be disconnected from the hardware   Link
CS Team - Design Document In this document, you'll find the design decisions made to achieve the functions noted in the CS Team's requirements document.   Download
Underwater ROV - Relay Communication In this video, we see the ability to control a 0/1 relay connected to the ROV using QGroundConttrol   Link
CS Team - Github Repo This is the main repository for the CS team, this contains the custom scripts for extended controls and model reconstruction   Link
CS Team - Requirements Document In this document, you'll find all the mandatory functions that our team should complete by the end of the term.   Download