First Step Towards μNet: Open-Access Aquatic Testbeds and Robotic Ecosystem

Abstract

Aquatic-based research requires a special set of facilities, expertise, and supporting personnel, all of which are costly and often not accessible to small research groups. A shared research infrastructure, particularly testbeds and open-access software, would lower the barrier to entry, decrease implementation time, and mitigate the risk of failure in harsh underwater environments. We have made the first step towards developing μNet, an open-access aquatic testbed and robotic ecosystem addressing the need for shared infrastructure. Our contributions include the initial steps towards an indoor testbed, an outdoor testbed, and an open-access software suite.