Inside Unmanned Systems provides actionable business intelligence to decision-makers and influencers operating within the global UAS community. Features include analysis of key technologies, policy/regulatory developments and new product design.
Issue link: https://insideunmanned.epubxp.com/i/643419
50 unmanned systems inside January/February 2016 MARINE AQUACULTURE-MARICULTURE fish or not there are structural limitations to how fast it can go. Failures in those activities are generally because somebody's got a date that night and they want to get to their destination and they push things too far. Taking people out of the loop in some of these processes is the best thing you can do." Pens might need to be moved from the main operation to be cleaned or transported to waters better suited to a different species. This mobility is one of the advantages of mariculture, which will be in a better position to avoid the sort of ocean changes triggered by global warming. To handle the task Goudey is proposing a diesel powered TowDrone that uses two slow turning, large-diameter propellers—like those used to mix waste water ponds—to maneuver even the largest enclosures into place at a safe snail's pace. A TowDrone might also play a roll in treat- ing f ish that are ill. For example bathing farmed salmon in fresh water appears to be an effective treatment for amoebic gill disease and sea lice, parasites that feed on fish, ac- cording to a research paper in the Nov. 2105 journal Aquaculture. The challenge is getting fresh water to the fish. "Right now they're using well boats and large tankers to do this," Goudey said, but farmers are considering hauling in fresh water in large f lexible bags—bags that could be gently towed to the farm site. Monitoring It might be possible to get an early warning of lice or other problems if unmanned under- water vehicles could be used to better monitor fish stocks. Lanzetta was intrigued by discussions of a UUV made to look and act like a fish. "We might be able to pick up challenges early" if there was a way to put cameras in the tanks to swim with the fish to monitor their behavior, she said. Sensors on underwater vehicles also could be used to help search out new mariculture sites, test continuously for environmental changes and warn of conditions leading to problems like toxin-laced algae blooms. One of the issues with putting sensors other than cameras into a mariculture operation is that most of the sensors now available are in- tended for scientific use. As such they are ex- pensive and require frequent calibration. Kelly said he wanted a sensor he could put in place and leave unattended for 6 months to a year. Lanzetta is looking for something more simple. She said she would really like a way to clean the fixed cameras she plans to use for monitoring. "We would be interested in the development of some robotic equipment that would actually clean off our camera lenses—like a little arm," she said. "Someone please get working on it. It would save us once a week diving to clean our cameras." Cost Shavings Trimming the number of manned dives and other new efficiencies will likely be the key near-term opportunity for unmanned systems, Kite-Powell said. Mariculture is inherently more expense than near shore operations, he LOA = 17' Beam = 7' Draft = 9' Prop draft = 13' The TowDrone can move fsh pens at a safe, snail's pace. You start to multiply that out by a week and now you're to 28 to 30 metric tons of feed that that pen is going to consume each week." –David Kelly, the chief technology offcer for InnovaSea " Photos courtesy of Clifford Goudey, C.A. Goudey & Associates