CUBOAT: Colorado Underwater Buoyant Oceanic

Acoustic neTwork
Daniel P. Ambrosio,∗ Ryan M. Del Gizzi,∗Bobby F. Hodgkinson,∗Jared A. Kirkpatrick,∗
Colin A. Miller,∗Julie A. Price,∗and Tyler M. Thomas∗
Dept. of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder,Colorado, 80309, USA

The Underwater Buoyant Oceanic Acoustic neTwork (CUBOAT) project is the first
mobile sensor networking system developed at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
The CUBOAT project consists of a team of seven undergraduate students majoring in
Aerospace Engineering Sciences. The project expands on Professor Kamran Mohseni’s
mobile sensor networking research in the field of bio-inspired Autonomous Underwater
Vehicles (AUVs). The most recent iteration of bio-inspired AUVs is the vehicle KRAKEN
(Kinematically Roving Autonomously Kontrolled Electro-Nautic). The CUBOAT project
modifies KRAKEN for underwater networking and acoustic research. The vehicle modifi-
cations include the addition of a three-dimensional positioning system based on the ultra-
short-baseline localization method and an acoustic communication system developed in-
house. A command module acts as a communication hub and a reference point for the
vehicle during dynamic autonomous waypoint maneuvers. The acoustic communication
system is designed to be inexpensive and compact allowing for easy integration and minimal
modifications of existing underwater vehicles. This is in contrast to available underwater
communication systems which are either overly large or overly expensive. The localization
system is designed to the specifications of the 13th Annual AUV student competition, which
is sponsored by AUVSI (the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International). In
addition to the communication and localization advancements, the project also incorporates
a robust autonomous control algorithm based on modern control theory which is developed
and implemented using LabVIEW software. Engineering developments demonstrated in
this project will act as stepping stones for future underwater vehicle sensor networking
research.

Nomenclature
AUV Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
AUVSI Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International
CM Command Module
CU University of Colorado at Boulder
CUBOAT Colorado Underwater Buoyant Oceanic Acoustic neTwork
DAQ Data Acquisition
IL Acoustic Intensity Level
KRAKEN Kinematically Roving Autonomously Kontrolled Electro-Nautic
MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output
SISO Single Input Single Output
SL Source Level
SNR Signal-to-Noise Ratio
TL Transmission Losses
USBL Ultra-Short Baseline
UUV Unmanned Underwater Vehicles
Vpp Voltage Peak-to-Peak
VRT Vortex Ring Thruster
∗ Student, Aerospace Engineering, 429 UCB.

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American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics