Fish-like Sensors for Underwater Robots

Roland Piquepaille writes "Today, both submarine and surface ships use sonar for navigation. But sonar and other vision systems face various limitations. So why not imitating fish? For millions of years, fish have relied on 'a row of specialized sensory organs along the sides of their bodies, called the lateral line' to avoid predators or to find preys. So engineers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) have decided to build an artificial lateral line for submarines and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). The first tests have been successful, and we can now envision a day where AUVs could detect and track moving underwater targets or avoid collisions with moving or stationary objects."

Comments

Re:So why not imitating fish?

[flyingfsck]

"It's"?

OK, you must be an Engrish major...

Re:So why not imitating fish?

[GodlikeDoglike]

What's your issue? "It's" is short for "it is", remember? Or did you flunk out of grade school? ;)

Re:So why not imitating fish?

[treeves]

It's == It is

What's [what is] the problem?

RP don't know a whole lot about sonar apparently

[Thu Anon Coward]

"Today, both submarine and surface ships use sonar for navigation. But sonar and other vision systems face various limitations. So why not imitating fish? For millions of years, fish have relied on 'a row of specialized sensory organs along the sides of their bodies, called the lateral line' to avoid predators or to find preys. So engineers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) have decided to build an artificial lateral line for submarines and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). The first tests have been successful, and we can now envision a day where AUVs could detect and track moving underwater targets or avoid collisions with moving or stationary objects." myself speaking as a former submariner, he doesn't quite know what he is talking about. there is passive and active sonar. passive is listening, active is sending out pings. using passive hurts nothing. in addition to which, we have fairly accurate charts of the ocean bottom as well as mounts (underwater mountains). we use the charts in combination with the inertial tracker to also chart where we are. the inertial tracker is _extremely_ accurate. and, of course, we have GPS when we come to the surface. so, you see, submarines do not really use sonar for navigation (the active kind of sonar that everyone knows about).

no doubt there is a former Sonar Shack operator that will say I don't know what I am talking about. he may be right, since I was A-gang Machinist Mate nuke school dropout, and not a STS ranker. but then again, I'll go up against him anyday on ship operation qualifications.