Unmanned Winches
A.G.O. has supplied a number of simple winches for unmanned and remotely-controlled applications like the University of Washington ORCA environmental mooring buoys.
As specific needs differ widely between clients, we do not have a single ready-to-go unmanned winch control electronics and software package available at this time. Winches are quoted and built according to each client’s specific needs and preferences. Scopes for implementing the UI and communications systems for the winch are often adjusted and shared between us and clients’ teams to help clients better control their project budgets.
Scope Tiers
Scope delineations between A.G.O. and the client for implementing an unmanned winch system can generally be organized into the following tiers. Review the tiers below to consider which will best balance your budget, needs, and capabilities.
Tier 1: Winch Only, no Electronics
A winch built per this tier will be delivered with the motor leads left unterminated. It will not be supplied with any A.G.O.-built motor power and control electronics.
The client is responsible for implementing the motor power and control system and integrating it into their other electronics such as their power supply and any communications systems. A.G.O. will provide some general advice and recommendations to get the client started.
This tier is ideal for:
- Clients with low budgets and teams with capable electrical designers.
- Applications with low loads (lower risk of operation issues if client-designed electrical system doesn’t necessarily “perfectly” meet all the unique electrical needs of a winch system).
Tier 2: Winch + Electronics, no Communications or Controls
A winch built per this tier will be delivered with one of A.G.O.’s standard, expertly-designed, built, and tested winch electrical systems to power and control the motor in response to control signals.
The control input (where direction and speed signals would normally come from a manned controller like a joystick) will come with an unterminated cable for the client to connect into their system for sending direction and speed control commands to the winch. If the winch is optionally outfitted with instrumentation, it may also include cabling for the client to connect to their system for receiving data signals from the instrumentation.
The client is responsible for designing their remote control interface (either physical or software-based with a UI) and implementing the necessary communications system to send the control signals to the winch and translate them into digital and analog signals that the winch’s electrical system can understand.
This tier is ideal for:
- Clients with mid-range budgets and capable electrical and/or software designers on their teams.
- Medium- to heavy-duty applications that are best handled by a winch with A.G.O.’s tried and tested electrical systems built to handle the unique electrical challenges of winching.
Tier 3A: Winch + Electronics + Communications, no Controls
A winch built per this tier will include one of A.G.O.’s standard, expertly-designed, built, and tested winch electrical systems as well as communications components for connecting to a client-developed control system. The communications components will translate control signals sent by the client’s control system into signals that the winch electronics can parse, and (if applicable) will send data back to the client’s control system for viewing or logging.
This scope delineation gives clients the flexibility to perhaps integrate winch control into other software that they may be developing for the winch application, e.g. a total monitoring hub interface that would give a remote operator the ability to control the winch as well as view sensor data
This tier is ideal for:
- Clients with capable software and/or electrical designers on their team that can implement a control interface to send winch control commands in a prescribed format.
- Clients with special or complex requirements for their remote control interface design, where it would be significantly easier and more affordable for the client to design and implement their interface themselves but otherwise have A.G.O. implement everything else with the winch.
Tier 3B: Winch + Electronics + Simple Autonomous Controls, no Communications
A winch built per this tier will include one of A.G.O.’s standard, expertly-designed, built, and tested winch electrical systems as well as a self-contained autonomous control system for fully unmanned operation.
The autonomous control system will not contain any communications system and will run the winch according to a pre-programmed schedule. Changing the schedule parameters requires the client to connect directly to the winch with a computer, or implement their own system to remotely communicate with the winch.
If the winch is optionally outfitted with instrumentation,the client would also be responsible for implementing the communications system to receive data signals from the instrumentation.
This tier is ideal for:
- Totally unmanned applications like moored monitoring bouys where constant remote communications with the winch is not critical to the winch’s operation.
- Clients who don’t have the capability and/or budget for implementing a remote communications system.
Tier 4: Winch + Electronics + Communications + Controls
A winch built per this tier will include all the electronics needed for a client to communicate with and run the winch remotely without needing to implement any of their own software or electrical systems. The winch will be a comprehensive fully usable system for the client to install and commission.
This tier is ideal for:
- Clients with flexible budgets to afford a more complex and expensive comprehensive winch system.
- Applications requiring remote manned control of the winch (as opposed to autonomous winch operation per a programmed schedule) where the client lacks the resources to implement a remote control and communications system themselves.
CSW-1
The CSW-1 is the winch model designed for and installed on the University of Washington ORCA monitoring buoys.
It is an example of a “Tier 1” unmanned winch: A.G.O. supplied just the winch with unterminated motor leads, and the University of Washington ORCA team took care of designing the winch motor control and power electronics system and integrating it into their other buoy electronics. This gave them maximum control over coordinating between the different systems on the buoys, and minimized the winch costs.
Application overview
The CSW-1 as configured for the University of Washington ORCA buoys is designed to handle:
- Up to 143m of 0.42″ Marine Sonic soft-jacket conductor cable
- ORCA buoy sensor package (~62 lbs in air, ~25 lbs in water) including: Sea-Bird SBE19plus CTD’s, SBE 43 DO sensor, SeaFET pH sensor, WETStar and ECO FLNTU fluorometers
PIP MkI
The PIP MkI is a winch model designed for COVE Ocean to live at the end of their dock and deploy their new sensor technology testing rig in the Dartmouth Harbour.
It is an example of a “Tier 2” unmanned winch: A.G.O. supplied the winch and electrical system, and the COVE team took care of implementing their own control interface for their computers, as well as specing the communications components for sending the control command signals to the winch and sending the winch and instrument sensor data back to COVE’s control room.
Although COVE spec’ed and purchased the communications components, A.G.O. did incorporate them into the winch electronics for COVE.
Application overview
The PIP MkI as configured for COVE Ocean is designed to handle:
- Up to 26m of 0.453″ Falmat Xtreme soft-jacket conductor cable
- COVE instrument deployment rig (~30-40 lb) with 10-15 lbs of instruments (e.g. CTDs, SVPs, etc.)
