AquaRob: An Unmanned Surface Drone for the Coastal Surveillance and Environmental Monitoring

Abstract

The coastline is considered one of the fastest-evolving biological and natural environments, impacted by factors such as waves, rising sea levels, shoreline morphology, and sediment supply. Algeria's maritime front extends over 1,622 kilometers. Safeguarding this strategic zone from degradation threats caused by economic activities, population concentration, and coastal infrastructure is paramount for the nation's security and strategy. The use of surface vehicles or drones for coastline monitoring and surveillance complements existing in situ measurement techniques. This paper proposes a surface drone named AquaRob (Aquatic-Robot) for environmental measurements and maritime surveillance. We present the designed hardware and software architectures, aiming to achieve semi-autonomous operations for specific maritime surveillance and environmental monitoring missions. The hardware architecture supports wireless sensor network technology, enabling the surface drone to be observable, locatable, and integrated into an ad hoc sensor network. AquaRob has completed preliminary tests in an aquatic environment.