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As most boaters know, if you don't want to run aground, you have to keep your vessel between navigation channel buoys. Navigable channels are marked thanks to someone's bathymetry, or, in other words, surveying of underwater topography.

Bathymetry is a mundane and repetitive task, so send in the drones. The present invention marries a drone and a boat with a tether. The boat has an array of sensors to map underwater terrain, and the drone tows the boat along waypoints. The boat can be delivered to its survey area by the drone, plopped into the water, and away it goes.

The application discloses that "there is a trend to develop efficient unmanned systems that are practical, inexpensive, easy to deploy, and provide high spatial and temporal resolution for bathymetry on small bodies of water, such as ponds, rivers, boat basins, shipping lanes, pre-construction, and nearshore applications. A system has been developed that incorporates a drone that drags a vessel/platform via a tether that can be equipped with a variety of sensors such as sonar or underwater cameras."

Why use a drone for propulsion instead of underwater propellers? The patent application states that "unmanned surface vehicles and remotely operated vehicles are also typically electrically self-propelled and can struggle to steer in an autonomous mission safely and accurately against strong currents and winds". The drone is oblivious to currents and winds, and can position the boat along its mission waypoints. In addition, the boat does not create underwater distortion with motors, or mar the environment with propeller blades, allowing it to get the best survey results.

See the bathy-drone video here:    • Bathydrone: A revolutionary system for und...  

Title: “BATHY-DRONE: AN AUTONOMOUS UNMANNED DRONE-TETHERED SONAR SYSTEM”
US Application Patent No: 20240294278
Filed (US Prov.):  2022-10-24
Published: 2024-09-05
Assignee: University of Florida Research Foundation, Inc.