Developing a Winch Feedback Control System

Understanding the ocean is critical to the study of climate change. It sequesters greenhouse
gasses, mitigating their warming effects. Scientists have developed models to study climate change via ocean dynamics, but existing models are approximations of reality because direct measurements are difficult to obtain through current methods. With the development of more sophisticated in-situ sampling, costs have been greatly reduced. One such vehicle is the JetYak. The JetYak is equipped with a number of sensors, including instruments for dissolved CH₄ and CO₂, a Conductivity- Temperature- Depth- (CTD) probe, and others. To sample at certain depths, a winch is used to lower the CTD and a pump for the gas sensors to gather data. When the vehicle moves, the end of the probe “flies-away”, reducing the amount of data we can collect at a certain depth. Currently, the winch is controlled by hand, and we want to automate the system for better precision. The purpose of the project was to develop an algorithm that would autonomously operate the winch. The algorithm would counteract the “fly-away” problem by maintaining the CTD at a specific depth while the JetYak is moving. Making vehicles like the JetYak autonomous gives way to predictable and controllable ways of gathering data for modeling.