Autonomous seagoing power replenishment watercraft

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer-readable media that implement autonomous seagoing power replenishment watercraft. An example system includes a plurality of marine vessels; a plurality of watercraft, each watercraft of the plurality of watercraft including a rechargeable electrical power supply and being configured to operate in: a first mode in which the watercraft awaits an assignment to provide electrical energy to a marine vessel of the plurality of marine vessels; a second mode in which the watercraft performs operations including keeping station with an assigned marine vessel and providing electrical energy to the assigned marine vessel from the power supply; and a third mode in which the watercraft recharges the power supply from a charging station. The system includes a controller configured to perform operations comprising: transmitting, to a first watercraft, an instruction indicating an assignment of the first watercraft to provide electrical energy to a first marine vessel.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A watercraft including a rechargeable electrical power supply, the watercraft being configured to operate in:
 a first mode in which the watercraft awaits an assignment to provide electrical energy to a marine vessel;   a second mode in which the watercraft performs operations including:
 keeping station with an assigned marine vessel; and 
 providing electrical energy to the assigned marine vessel from the power supply; and 
   a third mode in which the watercraft recharges the power supply from a charging station.   
     
     
         2 . The watercraft of  claim 1 , wherein the watercraft is configured to transition from the first mode to the second mode upon receiving an instruction assigning the watercraft to provide electrical energy to a marine vessel. 
     
     
         3 . The watercraft of  claim 1 , wherein the watercraft is configured to transition from the second mode to the third mode after discharging the power supply to the marine vessel. 
     
     
         4 . The watercraft of  claim 1 , wherein the watercraft is configured to transition from the third mode to the first mode after recharging the power supply from the charging station. 
     
     
         5 . The watercraft of  claim 1 , wherein providing electrical energy to the assigned marine vessel comprises:
 connecting a discharge port of the power supply to a charge port of the marine vessel;   determining that a power level of the power supply drops to a first threshold power level; and   in response to determining that the power level of the power supply drops to the first threshold power level, disconnecting the discharge port of the power supply from the charge port of the marine vessel.   
     
     
         6 . The watercraft of  claim 1 , wherein recharging the power supply from the charging station comprises:
 autonomously navigating the watercraft to a location of the charging station;   connecting a charge port of the power supply to a discharge port of the charging station;   determining that a power level of the power supply rises to a second threshold power level; and   in response to determining that the power level of the power supply rises to the second threshold power level, disconnecting the charge port of the power supply from the discharge port of the charging station.   
     
     
         7 . The watercraft of  claim 1 , wherein the watercraft includes a linking system configured to couple a first link mechanism of the watercraft to a second link mechanism of the marine vessel while the watercraft provides the electrical energy to the marine vessel. 
     
     
         8 . The watercraft of  claim 1 , wherein the marine vessel is configured to tow the watercraft while the watercraft provides the electrical energy to the marine vessel. 
     
     
         9 . The watercraft of  claim 1 , wherein keeping station with the assigned marine vessel includes maintaining a consistent relative position between the watercraft and the marine vessel as the marine vessel transits through a body of water based on sensor data from the one or more sensors. 
     
     
         10 . The watercraft of  claim 1 , wherein the power supply includes a first battery bank configured to power the watercraft and a second battery bank configured to provide electrical energy to the assigned marine vessel. 
     
     
         11 . A system comprising:
 a plurality of marine vessels;   a plurality of watercraft, each watercraft of the plurality of watercraft including a rechargeable electrical power supply and being configured to operate in:   a first mode in which the watercraft awaits an assignment to provide electrical energy to a marine vessel of the plurality of marine vessels;   a second mode in which the watercraft performs operations including:
 keeping station with an assigned marine vessel; and 
 providing electrical energy to the assigned marine vessel from the power supply; and 
   a third mode in which the watercraft recharges the power supply from a charging station; and   a controller configured to perform operations comprising:   transmitting, to a first watercraft of the plurality of watercraft, an instruction indicating an assignment of the first watercraft to provide electrical energy to a first marine vessel of the plurality of marine vessels.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , the operations comprising assigning the first watercraft to the first marine vessel based on a power level of the power supply of the first watercraft. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , the operations comprising:
 tracking a location of each of the plurality of marine vessels;   tracking a location of each watercraft; and   assigning the first watercraft to provide electrical energy to the first marine vessel based on a current location of the first watercraft and a current location of the first marine vessel.   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11 , the operations comprising transmitting, to the first watercraft, instructions to transit to a first location for rendezvous with the first marine vessel. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 11 , the operations comprising assigning a second watercraft to provide electrical energy to the first marine vessel after the first watercraft provides electrical energy to the first marine vessel. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , the operations comprising:
 determining a time duration for the first watercraft to provide electrical energy to the first marine vessel;   predicting a location of the first marine vessel at an end of the time duration; and   transmitting, to the second watercraft of the plurality of watercraft, an instruction to transit to a second location for rendezvous with the first marine vessel, the second location being based on the predicted location.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the charging station comprises at least one of a waterborne solar powered charging station, a waterborne tidal powered charging station, or a waterborne wind powered charging station. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein each watercraft includes a wireless communication module, the operations comprising transmitting the instruction to the wireless communication module of the first watercraft. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein each wireless communication module is configured to enable communication between the watercraft and the controller and to enable communication between the watercraft and the marine vessels. 
     
     
         20 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 transmitting, to a first watercraft of a plurality of watercraft, an instruction indicating an assignment of the first watercraft to provide electrical energy to a first marine vessel of a plurality of marine vessels,   wherein each watercraft of the plurality of watercraft includes a rechargeable electrical power supply and is configured to operate in:
 a first mode in which the watercraft awaits an assignment to provide electrical energy to a marine vessel of the plurality of marine vessels; 
 a second mode in which the watercraft performs operations including:
 keeping station with an assigned marine vessel; and 
 providing electrical energy to the assigned marine vessel from the power supply; and 
 
 a third mode in which the watercraft recharges the power supply from a charging station.