Proof of Concept for the Use of Small Unmanned Surface Vehicle in Built Environment Management

Unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) are remotely-operated robotic agents that can safely deploy and maneuver on the surface of bodies of water. Although, there is an established body of literature on large, complex and expensive USVs in structural health monitoring, comparing the solutions provided with the current available UAVs and their scale, cost, and applications, shows that USVs are not yet developed at this scale. The goal of this study is to provide a proof of concept for applications and development of USV devices (small, low cost, and versatile) similar to the current available UAVs. These devices can be used for monitoring the construction progress, facility management or in other words it can basically stretch over the lifecycle of the facilities. This paper first presents a discussion on different adaptations of the UVs and their definitions and applications. This is followed by a literature review on different health monitoring algorithms and methods to establish the body of knowledge in the area of automation of the health monitoring. This includes some related examples of small, low cost UAVs that are used to automate the health monitoring system. These are reviewed briefly to show how such systems can provide the basis for development of a similar USV. Next, deployment and use of various USVs is discussed. To provide a proof of concept for such a USV device an experiment is conducted with a small-scale commercial USV mounted with a camera to visually assess the health of a retention pond in Gainesville, Florida. The paper concludes with a discussion of the feasibility of the device and testing the possibility of automating the health assessment process using image-processing techniques.