5 Mission control
5.1 Before you begin
• Open the Horizon software on the field PC and prepare the autopilot mission file, as described in section 4.2.
• If necessary, charge all batteries of the system (payload, propulsion, WLAN station, remote control, field PC), as
described in section 3.3.
5.2 Executing the mission
Upon arriving on location:
• Set up the WLAN station and the field PC as described in section 3.2. Use the Ethernet cable and connect the
WLAN box to the field PC. Turn on the WLAN station. Turn on the field PC.
• Assemble the Sonobot, as described in section 3.1.
• Make sure the remote control is in Manual mode, and that its Steering and Throttle sticks are in central positions.
Then turn on the remote control (see 3.2.3).
• Turn on the Sonobot.
The indicators will light up once the vehicle is turned on. A few seconds later you will hear a tone from the
floaters – the propulsion system has established a connection to the remote control. The on-board PC will start up
in approximately 2 minutes.
• Connect to the Sonobot’s on-board PC:
– Launch the Radmin Viewer on the field PC and click on the Sonobot icon, enter the login and password you
received from EvoLogics to log into the on-board PC of the vehicle.
You have successfully connected to the on-board PC, once its desktop appears in the Radmin Viewer window, and
the monitoring software Sonobot 2 launches. See section 4.1 for details.
• In the Status tab of the Sonobot 2 software, check battery voltages (see section 4.3 for details).
Remember, that voltage under 13 V is not acceptable for vehicle operation. Proceed only if the batteries are charged
enough!
• Make sure the Auto-Range OFF box is checked in the Echosounder tab of the Sonobot 2 software. You can turn
on the automatic depth range detection later during the mission, after a few measurements are obtained.
• Launch the DeepView software on the Sonobot’s on-board PC, set up the software as described in section 4.4.
• Initialize the autopilot:
– Launch the Horizon software on the field PC.
– If necessary, transmit the waypoints file to the autopilot, as described in section 4.2.3.
– Connect to the autopilot, as described in section 4.2.4.
–
– Launch the autopilot, as described in section 4.2.5.
Now you can steer the vehicle with the remote control.
• Make sure you perform the following step at lowest thrust: there is a risk of overheating bearings and seals
of the vehicle!
Test the propulsion system of the vehicle on-shore:
– Use the remote control in Manual mode and test the jet-thrusters: check steering by moving the Steering stick
left and right, check throttle by moving the Throttle stick back and forth.
Be careful: make sure debris or dirt does not get sucked into the thrusters!
• Set the Sonobot afloat:
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