MISSION: WATER 14 SURFACE WATER i3xo Ecomapper Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Can you speak to the collaboration between Xylem and SeaRobotics on autonomous vehicles? Kevin: Just recently,YSI, a Xylem brand, has partnered with Geoff’s team at SeaRobotics to develop a brand new ASV called the HYCAT. HYCAT is a fully integrated system designed to accommodate a complete payload of environmental sensors from YSI and its sister brands at Xylem.The vehicle accommodates an EXO multi- parameter water quality sonde, a SonTek M9 Acoustic Doppler Profiler, camera and sidescan sonar systems as well. It is capable of not only bathymetry measurements and cross- sectional geometry measurements, but also water velocity measurements.With this information combined, it can also calculate water discharge in rivers, inlets, and so forth. These sensors are built into a small, yet incredibly durable package from SeaRobotics that’s easy-to-deploy and easy-to- transport. Geoff: Yes, and all the data feeds directly into HYPACK software, which is a staple of the surveying world.This software provides a unique user interface where you can visualize and process the hydrographic data you’re collecting in real time. The HYPACK integration also allows the new vehicle to do what we call ‘mission planning’ – where you setup the device to collect data autonomously using geospatial references, satellite imagery or oceanographic charts. How are companies working to make autonomous vehicles more accessible for a wider group of researchers, government agencies, and environmental organizations? Kevin: In the past, the challenge with these types of integrated vehicles was how to get all the sensors interoperable to an on- board data acquisition system, and then pulling the data into a common user interface. As consumers, we’re not just paying for the sensors or even the vehicle they fit into, but also the expertise of companies like SeaRobotics to integrate the entire package together and make it work. In the future, as sensor manufacturers design their instruments to more easily integrate into larger systems that will help eliminate a lot of this additional cost. Geoff: Absolutely! The price of these systems is highly dependent on the complexity of the integration work.The autonomous vehicle market is relatively new.We've been defining it over the past 18 years and many of our vehicles have been one-off, custom solutions.As with most things in life – if it’s a custom solution – it’s bound to be more expensive. But we're at the point where vehicle demand is at an all-time high, which gives us economies of scale with suppliers to reduce the cost of common components. It also helps that the aerial drone market has taken off in recent years, as drones often times share similar onboard computers and positioning systems. In the future, I fully expect these systems to be substantially more accessible based on volume alone. There are a number of automated vehicles on the market for water quality and quantity monitoring. Can you speak to the major differences in what is commercially available? Kevin: There are two major categories of autonomous vehicles in water; those that operate strictly on the surface and those that can dive underneath. Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) are systems that can undulate through the water column, from the surface down to the ocean floor or lakebed, collecting data along the way. Most AUVs are incredibly sophisticated, and you can think of them as small unmanned submarines with sensors installed.They come with a much higher price tag – anywhere from $150,000 to millions of dollars – due to the complexity of the designs to handle extreme depths. On the other hand,Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASVs) are much more affordable in comparison, but only collect data – you guessed it – on the water’s surface.They typically range in price from $25,000 to a few hundred thousand dollars, depending on a few factors including the size and overall sensing capabilities. In general, the more parameters an autonomous vehicle can measure – and the deeper it can travel – the more expensive it will be.Top of the line AUVs and ASVs offer a wide range of sensors for water quality, velocity, depth, bathymetry and more.