Research team conducts successful PEARL autonomous mission on the Charles River

Illuminated by the reflections of the city lights on the Charles River, on August 28, the Engineering Systems Lab successfully launched PEARL (Platform for Expanding AUV exploRation to Longer ranges) from the MIT Sailing Pavilion, completing an autonomous mission.

PEARL is a concept for an autonomous floating servicing platform that could harvest solar energy to recharge autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and connect to new generation high-bandwidth low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations, such as Starlink, for near-real-time data transmission.

This latest mission was focused on demonstrating the autonomous multi-parameter water quality monitoring capabilities of PEARL, particularly in small and coastal water bodies. This sustainable approach leverages solar power and real-time high-bandwidth satellite connectivity to monitor water quality. The project is funded by a MathWorks Development Collaborative Research Grant (DCRG)

Congratulations to team members Christina Nguyen, Nik Tapanainen, Abhishek Bhattiprolu, Ayden Soderblom, Charlie Benjamin, Blake Edwards, Sung Wook Paek, and Prof. Olivier de Weck (PI) on a successful mission.