Transformer: A Multifunctional Fast Unmanned Aerial Vehicles–Unmanned Surface Vehicles Coupling System

Abstract

With the continuous development of the maritime economy, the maritime unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become important parts of the maritime transportation system. Unmanned vehicles play a pivotal role in water safety management, offshore patrol and maritime rescue. Consequently, this article researches and develops an unmanned aerial vehicle–unmanned surface vehicle (UAV-USV) coupling system with multiple functions. The ship body module, the deformation module and the UAV module are designed by using the modular analysis method, then volume of fluid (VOF) technology and STAR-CCM+ software are applied to analyze the ship resistance before and after deformation and optimize it. The results show that the Transformer has high speed before deformation and stable navigation ability after deformation, and it can navigate in high winds and waves. It has a large reconnaissance range and some radar stealth capability, which can fulfill different tasks, such as maritime patrol, military strike and maritime rescue.

Cooperative Unmanned Aerial and Surface Vehicles for Extended Coverage in Maritime Environments

“…The design of a cooperative platform named Transformer is proposed in [32]. This platform establishes communication between the UVs through a radio frequency (RF) module.…”

Research on a novel maritime emergency search system

“…These years, the maritime sector tasks of safeguarding national sovereignty and maritime rights and interests have become more prominent, and the assignments of maritime safety management, the rescue of human lives at sea, and prevention, and control of marine environmental pollution have become increasingly onerous. [1][2][3][4][5][6] Current vessels (especially fishing, pleasure, small cargo ships) supervision methods have the shortcomings of short supervision range, small supervision scope, and high cost, etc., which are difficult to meet the requirements of modern maritime supervision. UAV is one of the most active emerging things in the world military and civilian fields in recent years.…”

“…These years, the maritime sector tasks of safeguarding national sovereignty and maritime rights and interests have become more prominent, and the assignments of maritime safety management, the rescue of human lives at sea, and prevention, and control of marine environmental pollution have become increasingly onerous. 1–6…”

A novel wearable micro-intelligent electrocardiogram equipment

“…1. Different from the research of our former equipment, the electrocardiogram equipment is the medical equipment and more complicated [3][4][5][6][7]. In the equipment, STMicroelectronics32 (STM32) is the main control and ADS1293 is the ECG data acquisition chip.…”