# Experimental Design of a Mobile Landing Platform to Assist Aerial Surveys in Fluvial Environments
## 6 Discussion and Conclusions  
With the aim of flying a UAV over fluvial environments, a mobile platform was designed and developed as a support vehicle. Among the main features of this platform are its low cost of manufacturing (less than 500 euros), ease of transport (weight less than 5 Kg and its dimensions are less than 1 m\({}^{2}\)) and ease of control using a mobile phone or PC. The built platform can carry different UAV models and meets all the design requirements indicated in Table 1. This was possible due to the combination of lightweight and affordable materials such as PVC, polyurethane, and electronics such as Arduino. The simplicity of the design implies easy maintenance and repair of the vessel, without disregarding any of the design requirements, and contributes to its low price. Table 3 lists the fulfilled design requirements set along a short description. For more detailed and additional information on the requirement fulfillment please refer to the project's repository included in the Supplementary Materials Section. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Waypoint No.** & **1** & **2** & **3** & **4** & **5** & **6** \\ \hline Latitude (\({}^{\text{o}}\)) & \(-3.5352\) & \(-3.5351\) & \(-3.5350\) & \(-3.5352\) & \(-3.5352\) & \(-3.5352\) \\ Longitude (\({}^{\text{o}}\)) & 40.3000 & 40.3001 & 40.3002 & 40.3003 & 40.3005 & 40.3006 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: Ordered waypoint vector with latitude and longitude coordinates. Figure 18: The figure illustrates the trajectory followed by the vessel during the waypoint tracking test. The starting waypoint is the southernmost. The map and coordinates correspond to a testing area for the Strider V1.0. Furthermore, a dynamic model from the built platform was also obtained to provide a rapid channel for control prototyping and system configuration without the need to carry out test directly in the physical platform. To evaluate the success of the design several experiments were performed with the vessel. Real tests demonstrate the capabilities and robustness of the platform and showcase the use of the implemented navigation modes from Section 4.2. Simulation tests verify the suitability of the vessel model and the performance of the P and PD controllers for speed and heading, respectively. Noise disturbance rejection of the implemented controllers in simulation tests yielded stable behavior under disturbances and exogenous effects. Considering the simplicity of the control architecture, the achieved results are sufficient for the given application, although better control schemes can be designed and applied in the future. Using the obtained dynamic model for prototyping and deploying controllers has proved to be a good approach to reduce deployment and development time while testing in a risk-free environment. As future work, it is intended to develop a second prototype with more sensory and processing capacity to test further control schemes and collaborative behaviors with the UAVs in different environment conditions. For example, the speed of the vessel is achieved via integration of the acceleration values obtained from the IMU. Although this method suffers from some drift in the values in long tests an EKF fusing GPS and IMU data to obtain velocity will be implemented in the future. Further modifications will also be done in the landing base to enable the attachment of backpack strips for easier transportation by a person. Finally, to the best of our knowledge this is the smaller double-hull USV ever built and we believe that will be an added value point in future aerial remote sensing mission in aquatic environments. The source code of the prototype and the video with the tests performed can be acquired in the following links respectively: github.com/davodav93/Strider and youtu.be/8 sj1Q5 ENeWA. **Author Contributions:** Design, D.B. and J.V. ; Manufacturing, D.B. ; Trials and validations, D.B. and O.V. ; Modeling and control, O.V. ; Writing--review and editing, D.B., J.V. and O.V.