Abstract

Millions of pounds of manmade plastics are polluting our oceans. These floating bits plastic are being mistaken by fish as food, wreaking havoc on our ocean’s ecosystems. Plastic is not biodegradable. It essentially will continue to exist as plastic for an extremely long amount of time. However, intense UV radiation breaks each polymer chain causing the part to break up into smaller, individual pieces, which are still plastic. In the North Pacific Ocean, a gyre roughly the size of the state of Texas, which is surrounded by circling currents, is the final destination for many of these bits. These small pieces often resemble the food that is found in the area, and are consequently eaten by the marine and bird life; causing untold numbers of deaths throughout many natural ecosystems. All this pollution is the result of the explosion of plastic use in the late 1950’s. It has taken only 50 years for all of this to happen, which begs the question of exactly how polluted our oceans will get in the future. New research must be made into the current impact of this pollution, and furthermore bring awareness of our dramatic impact on our world’s oceans.

The Oceanic Unmanned Research Vessel will be an extremely reliable surface oceanic vessel completely powered by solar panels. The craft will be programmed to reach a coordinate position in the ocean by means of GPS navigation. The craft will have sensors that will detect large objects around it such as ships, and be able to maneuver around them. It will also have submerged sensors that will be able to detect objects the size of small fish, or larger. An onboard submerged camera will photograph each object and store it along with its GPS data. Other oceanic data such as salinity, acidity and temperature will be gathered and stored. At strategic points in the ocean, the craft will collect and store small water samples using trolling techniques. After the OURV (Oceanic Unmanned Research Vessel) reaches a set point in the ocean and completes its data collection, it will initiate a return-to-base mode in which it will plot a course back to a specific return point and navigate it by means of GPS and Obstacle Avoidance.