Building an Autonomous Boat: Project Design of an Automated Boat for Security Improvement (Thesis Proposal Sample)

Name
Instructor
Course
Date
Building an Autonomous Boat
2.1 Background
Construction of autonomous boat comprises of construction of two boats where one will be the receiver boat which is the autonomous and the transmitter boat that will be sending signals to the autonomous and give commands (DUOTRAQ, 2016, P1). The process requires good signal transmission medium so as to help in disseminating and propagate the signal from the transmitter to the receiver boat where the point involved will determine the transmission medium which can either wireless, optical fiber or wired. The initial concept of the design was to come up with a single program using the raspberry pi. Although raspberry pi can produce a good result in the application, the use of Python programming language makes it simple and since it simply understood and people with little knowledge of a programming language can also follow and understand the design. Hence even people with knowledge in C programming language can also understand the concept. Since the boat will be operating in places where signal transmission can be a problem, we will apply the IR LED system since it contains specific wavelengths where the transmitter will be sending light with longer wavelengths. Infrared wavelengths are invisible and work similar to the light on the remote control. The autonomous boat will be applied in department like in the intelligence since it has the capability of collecting information and help in improving security in the seas and oceans (DUOTRAQ, 2016, P2).
2.2 Related Work
The different researchers has tried to come up with a different design similar to the construction of the autonomous boat. The first project was by the Caribbean Compass industries that are one of the leading producers of boats and yachts worldwide in 2006, and they come up with an idea of manufacturing boats fixed with small CCTV cameras. Although it was a nice trial the system worked, but there was no immediate response even during dangers, and hence the production failed a year later. The improvement of the design was carried by DUOTRAQ company engineers where they came up with “Boat Security and GPS Tracking” system by fitting GPS tracker. GPS trackers were used to trace the where about the boat was. Also, it gave instant alerts on all of its moves and provided additional informational like the external voltage of the vessel, runtime, and engine status. The production failed since not all boat managed to give the required information since sometimes the system lacked satellite networks. Later in 2013, the DUOTRAQ company tried to replace the satellite networks with the cellular networks, but their efficiency was still below the required mark.
Currently, NATO has tried to come up with a project similar to the autonomous boat, but it differs in that they apply the programmable logic controls (PLCs) that make it less efficient since for it to send feedback the design program condition in the system must be met. The autonomous boat will be an improvement from the NATO design, but it will defer in different ways. For example, the autonomous project will use the programming language to come up with a code that can be easily followed by anyone with little knowledge of programming compared to PLCs that requires trained personnel. Als...