Camera Code Rewritten - Changing Products
-14 July 2008

The camera code has been rewritten to allow the vehicle to send commands to the cameras during operation, specifically to change the product the camera is running to track different objects. This is very important to the competition so that we can successfully complete the different tasks.

Marker Dropper Designed and Built
-11 July 2008

After several days of burnt fingers with a soldering iron, our dropper design is fully implemented in the vehicle. It is a very robust and simple design.

Safe Retriever Designed
-8 July 2008

The safe retriever is designed and the machine shop is now working on it. We are excited for the new functionality for the vehicle.

Forward Camera Tracks Buoy
-3 July 2008

The forward camera successfully recognized a red coffee can floating in the pool and the vehicle ran straight into it. We are growing very confident that we will have a successful run at the AUVSI competition next month.

Downward Camera Recognizes and Tracks Line
-30 June 2008

Our downward camera successfully recognized a firehose laid across the bottom of the pool. Narwhal successfully tracked the hose and followed along, successfully navigating the curves

Heading and Waypoint Control
-20 June 2008

Heading and waypoint control are looking very nice. All fundamental levels of control are now fully implemented in our vehicle.

Compass Wired and Installed in Narwhal
-18 June 2008

After numerous obstacles, our magnetic compass is finally fully operational. The code now reads the binary data, not just the ASCII data, from the compass and the physical connections are now hardier and more robust. We look forward to our next pool test and hope to have working heading and waypoint control by the end of the week.

Depth and Pitch Control Fully Operational
-16 June 2008

In our latest pool test, the control gains for depth and pitch control were tweaked for the last time, resulting in maintaining a constant depth +- 1" and near perfect pitch.

AUV Website Updated for 2008 Team
-09 June 2008

The new AUV website is now up and operational! We have redesigned and rechristened our vehicle. Look for USNA's Narwhal in San Diego in early August as we compete against top engineering schools around the country!

First Live Test
-22 APR 2008

The AUV underwent its first operation test today for basic navigation and control. The test was a success and numerous problems, such as the vehicle being too buoyant, were found. We look forward to subsequent pool tests with these problems resolved.