The Wave Glider as a Development Platform

A trusted platform for rapid autonomous systems development

The Liquid Robotics Wave Glider is well known for its ability to travel extreme distances autonomously, powered only by waves and the sun.  What is less known is how straightforward it is to integrate custom payloads, creating unique opportunities for surveillance and environmental assessment.

The Wave Glider SV3 offers 7 modular bays that can be used for batteries and sensor payloads that could be as simple as an acoustic modem or as complex as a custom sensor suite.  The payloads are interfaced to a Sensor Management Computer (SMC) via serial, ethernet or USB.  The Linux-based SMC boasts serious computing power provided by an Nvidia Tegra X1 with a quad core arm A57 and a Maxwell 256 core Graphical Processing Unit.  The processing power is available for user applications, allowing edge processing and minimising data required to be transmitted.

The Wave Gliders runs a Regulus Operating Environment that is based on Linux and is open and extensible.  Regulus allows access to the command and control of all Wave Glider functions and sensor data.  The complexities of Satellite, Cellular and Wi-Fi communications are handled by Regulus, allowing send and forget functionality. Using the Software Development Kit available for the Wave Glider, the highly capable SMC and Regulus operating system, a fully functioning system can be built in weeks, not years.

Remote management of the Wave Glider from shore is achieved with the Wave Glider Management System (WGMS).  WGMS facilitates mission planning, piloting, and vehicle health monitoring and provides access to core vehicle data and data derived from custom payloads.

Using the mission proven Wave Glider platform allows systems integrators to focus on high value sensor payloads rather than the vehicle and its operation.  In this world of fast changing requirements, building on trusted platforms makes sense.  The Wave Glider is one of the most trusted platforms.