I am trying to map some Aquatic Vegetation using the Blue Boat. The plan is to use the Ping Sonar/ Echosounder to get the floor depth. We would want the depth data to control a winch to raise and lower a camera mounted on a telescoping pole. I want this too be able to keep the camera around 3 feet from the bottom of the surface during our transects.
From what I have found in the forums we will likely follow this to control the winch.
I was wondering if anyone has done anything remotely similar to this and if you guys would have any pointers on how to make this all work in tandem.
Hi @AdamCB -
Welcome to the forums!
Raising and lowering a camera based ond epth should work great! I’ve been chasing similar goals, but rather than a pole I plan to use a tow-fish with waterproof servos that control the angle of attach of a wing. Thus, the boat gives information on depth ahead of the vehicle, and the camera has time to ascend or descent to maintain depth. The risk of using a pole, besides having limited range and a lot more drag, is it finding out too late that it is getting shallow and an impact occuring!
A Lua script is definitely a great approach for control.
It may be possible to map aquatic vegetation at a faster rate with sonar alone - using the Omniscan SS, and perhaps software like this, which now supports it!
Our range should not be too deep so we aren’t worried about depth as much the absolute max depth may be 10 Meters.
As for drag that will be a problem there will likely be a lot of testing and optimizing weight distribution. We will also likely be doing transects very slowly.
We looked into using the sonar and a tow-fish for our project unfortunately due to our methods and end goals of the project they aren’t the most feasible.
We are in Nova Scotia Canada so the visibility in the water is very murky at times hence the camera on the pole.
How hard is it to learn the Lua scripts?
Thank you Tony your wealth of knowledge is amazing.
Hi @AdamCB -
For murky water I’d think sonar would be a great solution! Your coverage rate would be much faster too - can you elaborate on the methods and goals that make it not feasible? It certainly seems a better and cheaper solution… and even faster, the rare trifecta!
What is the maximum extended length for your pole, 8-9 meters? Making a mechanism that remains stiff while telescoping can be quite challenging. I’d also imagine the boat rolling and pitching from surface waves could move a camera attached at the bottom end of it around quite a lot…but if the water is glass-calm, no worries!
The BlueBoat is most efficient at 0.8 to 1 m/s, so your slow survey speed should be perfect.
I’m no expert in Lua scripts, but sharing examples and asking AI, particularly Claude, can result in working generated code. It’s easy to test before field use by enabling SITL (software in the loop) under Autopilot Firmware/Change Board, flashing ArduRover to this simulator, and then testing the functionality of your lua script on the bench, as the boat thinks it is in the field!