Shore Control Centre for Multi-Domain Heterogeneous Robotic Vehicles

Abstract

Given the increased interest in offshore wind energy, there is a greater need for advancements in operation and maintenance technology. As a result, robotic solutions are required to avoid human risky behavior and reduce associated operational costs. In order to accommodate the need for inspecting multiple domains, multiple robotic vehicles are utilized, which requires the deployment of control stations that can effectively monitor, facilitate communication among different vehicles, and ensure successful completion of the overall mission.A shore control centre (SCC) is a communication software infrastructure capable of monitoring, localizing and planning missions for a group of multi-domain heterogeneous robots within a local network. This paper proposes an SCC as: (i) an active monitor by continuously observing the local behaviour of each robot and the global progress of the mission and its safety; (ii) a mission planner that provides and supervises its execution while constantly checking for critical failures and intervening in the case of unexpected events. Also, The control centre is able to connect to multiple vehicles from various domains and monitor real-time data. Accordingly, validation procedures were carried out in real conditions.