So This Is Christmas

Merry Christmas is such an infectious feeling I like to feel that way all year around.

So if you are visiting just before Christmas, just after Christmas or even here on Christmas day I am sure you will find something of interest for you and in the spirit of Christmas.

It may be said that Christmas is no longer a celebration but this must be spoken by people that have never had trouble closing their eyes on Christmas Eve in an expectation of what maybe left for them on the carpet under the tree.

I continue to look forward to the surprise on my Grandchild's faces to this day at Christmas events.

Merry Christmas - Merry Christmas - Merry Christmas

Thursday, July 20, 2017

How We Use Unmanned Surface Vehicles

By Douglas Gibson


Anyone with a mapping program on their computer is familiar with how the contours the land are shown. These mountains and valleys are depicted in lakes as well as oceans, and many people might assume that all this was done from satellites. However, a great deal of this mapping is being done with unmanned surface vehicles.

Most of these USVs are being controlled remotely, and require almost no babysitting by a human hand. University scientists can follow pods of whales with the same equipment that mapping programs are utilizing to show details in the deepest parts of the ocean. One has only to program that zone they wish to map, and keep tabs on the progress through whatever vehicle control stations, VCS for short, are assigned.

The VCS is an application that can be added to any smart phone or other Internet interface device. In this way, the individuals performing the study can keep track of their project in real time, twenty-four hours a day, as long as the batteries hold up. There is a bank of four powerful battery packs they keep tabs on, and they are sure to know right away if the vehicle has run into any sort of trouble.

The process of mapping oceans or lake bottoms is known as bathymetry. Traditionally this task has been performed by manned boats using sonar equipment. It is a laborious process which requires them to comb the sea or lake bed in a vacuum-sweeper fashion, and their work is inhibited by nightfall as well as weather.

Robotic vessels have no need for gasoline, and they can perform their job without utilizing very many humans in the process. They can perform their duty much longer than human-controlled boats, and are able to perform studies that would have been impossible before. Should weather change abruptly, no people are put at risk.

These boats can be equipped for measuring temperature and rainfall, as well as wave patterns and temperature during severe storms. The study of hurricanes has been taken to a whole new level with this technology. With the data collected remotely, even if the vessel is completely lost, the data collected during the period of observation has already been delivered.

There are many individuals in the private sector who might have use for these technologies as well. Anyone owning properties that contain small lakes or ponds know how important it is to keep a regular tab on the depth of the water body. By sweeping their ponds, they will know if there are structures or vegetation at depths that could be risky to swimmers and boats, and some will even alert them to the presence of undercurrents or dams created by animals.

Anyone living on or near large bodies of water is able to assist law enforcement with these USVs as well. Because they are able to work round-the-clock with little or no oversight, they are an ideal method of performing search and rescue missions on oceans and lakes. Many lives can be spared which would have been lost without the ability to search effectively and efficiently.




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