Journal Article

Study on key technologies for air–water surface collaboration of observation unmanned aircraft vehicle

Feng, Dongying, Li, Jiaping, Zhang, Nanfeng, Cui, Can, Dai, Shilu, Peng, Bo, Yang, Jingfeng, Xiao, Jinchao, Xiong, Junfeng

2025

Overview

To address the issues of short flight duration and the inability to carry high‐computation resources in small observation unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) due to limited energy and payload capacities, this paper proposes a deployment framework for an air–water surface collaborative observation system based on energy‐replenishment and computation offloading. In this framework, UAVs serve as platforms for observation tools, while unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) function as platforms for energy replenishment and edge computing nodes. The edge computing nodes are capable of processing, analyzing, and distributing observation data received from the UAVs. UAVs can perform coordinated landing and recharging on the USVs using high‐precision BeiDou positioning. Experimental results indicate that the application of this framework allows small observation UAVs to avoid the burden of carrying heavy computational loads during flight and enables cyclic recharging and operation using the USV platform. The findings of this study have broad applicability in various scenarios, including environmental monitoring, disaster patrol, marine mapping, and marine aquaculture. To address the issues of short flight duration and the inability to carry high‐computation resources in small observation unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) due to limited energy and payload capacities, a deployment framework is proposed for an air–water surface collaborative observation system based on energy replenishment and computation offloading. In this framework, the UAV serve as a platform for observation tools, while unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) act as platforms for energy replenishment and edge computing nodes. The edge computing nodes process, analyze, and distribute the observation data received from the UAV. Upon receiving a charging signal, the UAV performs coordinated positioning with the USV using high‐precision BeiDou positioning and land on the USV. After recharging, the UAV resumes their observation tasks. Experimental results demonstrate that this framework prevents the small observation UAV from having to carry heavy computational loads during flight and also, the small observation UAV can utilize the USV platform for cyclic recharging and takeoff. The findings of this study can be extended to the collaborative application of multiple UAVs and USVs, enabling broader and more sustained observations. This approach has significant potential for applications in environmental monitoring, disaster rescue, marine mapping, border patrol, and marine aquaculture capacity monitoring.

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc
• Subject: Aquaculture / autonomous aerial vehicles / Collaboration / Computation offloading / cooperative systems / Cyclic loads / Edge computing / Environmental monitoring / Flight / marine vehicles / mobile computing / multi‐robot systems / Nodes / Recharging / Replenishment / Surface vehicles / Unmanned aerial vehicles / Unmanned aircraft / Unmanned vehicles