Control Station Analysis

“OpenROV is an open-source, low-cost underwater robot for exploration and education. It's also a passionate community of professional and amateur ocean explorers and technologists” (Welcome to OpenROV!, 2016).  The OpenROV is capable of descending to depths of 328feet of seawater and has up to a two hour life (Welcome to OpenROV!, 2016).  David Lang, the co-creator of OpenROV, wanted to make this system simple, low-cost, and accessible to allow more people to purchase and discover underwater exploration.

The OpenROV 2.8 weights 2.6kg; is 30cm long, 20cm wide, and 15cm tall; and has a maximum speed of 2 knots (OpenROV 2.8 Mini Observation Class ROV, 2016).  Additonally, it has a 120 degree field of view (FOV) camera that transmits video back via a 100 meter tether (can support up to a 300 meter tether) (OpenROV 2.8 Mini Observation Class ROV, 2016).  Onboard processing is completed through a BeagleBone Black and Arduino Mega microprocessors and the system connects to a PC that runs OS/X/Windows/Linux via Google Chrome browser and uses OpenROV open source software which is installed onboard the OpenROV (OpenROV 2.8 Mini Observation Class ROV, 2016). 

The OpenROV uses what they call a top-side adapter to connect the tether to the control computer, this can also be connected to a wireless router to allow a wireless connection to the adapter (Jakobi, 2016).  Once connected to the top-side adapter, Google chrome can be opened and connected to the IP address 192.168.254.1:8080, which will access the onboard OpenROV Control software (OpenROV, 2016).  The OpenROV software is stored on the BealeBone Black and can be updated via SD card (OpenROV, 2016).  The OpenROV software provides a plethora of information and can be configured to use keyboard inputs or game pad inputs for command functions to the ROV (OpenROV, 2016). 

\Figure 1. OpenROV open source control software screenshot.  Red is connectivity status, Blue shows compass heading, Orange shows latency, Yellow is current draw, and Green is battery voltage.  Courtesy of OpenROV.com.

Figure 1. OpenROV open source control software screenshot.  Red Compass heading, Orange shows motor thrust, Yellow is depth, and Green is roll and artificial horizon.  Courtesy of OpenROV.com.

The use of visuals to communicate information to the surface controller is a very common means of communication.  However, with the amount of information that systems can send this can become a very visually intense control method.  Other methods of communicating information to the operator are being utilized such as aural warnings, which OpenROV does not currently use.  Additionally, when on board a surface vessel, an operator at a surface control station can become victim to spatial disorientation (SD).

Spatial disorientation (SD) is defined as, “a failure to sense correctly the attitude, motion, and/or position of the aircraft with respect to the surface of the earth” (Cooke, 2006).  Because the operator is not physically inside of an unmanned vehicle, this can lead to false perceptions and the primary cause of SD (Cooke, 2006).  SD taxonomy in unmanned aerial systems (UAS) can be divided in to three groups: Visual Reference (VR), Operator Platform (OP), and Control Method (CM); furthermore these groups can be further divided in to VR: exocentric (EX), egocentric (EG), and External View (EV); OP: Mobil (M), and Stationary (S); and CM: Manual Control (MC), Supervisory Control (SC) and Fully Autonomous (FA) (Cooke, 2006).

Haptic feedback has been a recent topic that is being explored to help combat reduced situational awareness (SA) and SD.  “Haptic feedback, often referred to as simply "haptics", is the use of the sense of touch in a user interface design to provide information to an end user” (What is "haptic feedback"?, 2016).  Haptic feedback can be as simple as a vibrating wrist band or as complex as the proposed Tesla Suit which allows for full body haptic feedback (Rigg, 2016).  The Army Aviation Association of America also experimented with a motion simulator allowing the operator to feel as if they were in the cockpit of the aircraft (Bobryk, 2012).  Regardless of how simple or complex the haptic system is, it does serve to provide more SA to the operator and makes for easier processing since so much information is already being processed visually and aurally.  However, a large drawback is the increasing amount of information that must be sent back to the surface control station.

The OpenROV software could integrate aural warnings associated with depth to increase operator SA.  For example if a set depth is configured for warning, an aural tone would let the operator know the depth has been exceeded.  This could be especially important when reaching the maximum operating depth.  While not beyond the scope of OpenROV’s open source software, haptic feedback might be a harder to integrate because the premise of the OpenROV is affordability and adding haptic feedback devices would add more to the overall cost, however aural warnings could be integrated easier by taking advantage of speakers already incorporated in the control PC. 

References

Bobryk, B. (2012 Jun 13). UAV Motion Ground Station. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7dBJsLlq8E

Cooke, N. J. (2006). Human factors of remotely operated vehicles (1st ed.).Boston, Mass: JAI. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/lib/erau/detail.action?docID=10139446

Jakobi, N. (2016 Jul 5). How to build a WiFi enabled Tether Management System. Openrov.donzuki.com. Retrieved from http://openrov.dozuki.com/Guide/How+to+build+a+WiFi+enabled+Tether+Management+System/59

OpenROV. (2016 Jul 5). OpenROV Operators Manual. Openrov.donzuki.com. Retrieved from http://openrov.dozuki.com/Guide/OpenROV+Operators+Manual/80

OpenROV 2.8 Mini Observation Class ROV. (2016 Jul 5). Openrov.com. Retrieved from http://www.openrov.com/products/2-8.html

Rigg, J. (2016 Jan 06). Teslasuit does full-body haptic feedback for VR. Engadget.com. Retrieved from https://www.engadget.com/2016/01/06/teslasuit-haptic-vr/

What is "haptic feedback"?. (2016 Jul 4). Mobileburn.com. Retrieved from http://www.mobileburn.com/definition.jsp?term=haptic+feedback

Welcome to OpenROV!. (2016 Jul 5). Openrov.com. Retrieved from http://www.openrov.com/index.html