Development of Sediment Environment Survey Boat with Self-Navigation in Difficult-to-Enter Waters

Surveys of lake and seafloor sediments and topography are very important for improving fisheries catches and elucidating the mechanisms of earthquake occurrence. In order to carry out such surveys, it is necessary to develop a survey boat that can navigate even in relatively shallow and difficult-to-enter waters. In this research, we developed a compact and lightweight self-navigation survey boat that is easy to disassemble and carry. The research vessel we developed consists of a motor, a fish-finder, and a microcomputer (Raspberry Pi). In order to realize the proposed survey boat, we developed a new self-navigation control algorithm and conducted a practical experiment in the ocean to confirm its superiority.