The OpenROV team first heard of RTI and the Data Distribution Service™ (DDS) standard when a software engineer joined the company, after previously managing a successful implementation with Connext DDS while working at NASA. This engineer was responsible for facilitating research in autonomous aerial vehicles and implementing a solid platform where all of NASA's complex systems were interoperable, reliable and secure. RTI Connext DDS was the only solution able to address these issues and work seamlessly across NASA's systems. The engineer recognized similar challenges at OpenROV and immediately recommended implementing RTI Connext DDS due to its proven success.
Each OpenROV Trident is equipped with a built-in camera that produces multiple video streams, which are transmitted through a tether and bridged to a user's device via Wi-Fi. The vehicle's software is tasked with maintaining the balance between delivering low-latency, high-quality video and dealing with the realistic bandwidth and reliability constraints that the physical network imposes on the system. Connext DDS enables OpenROV to ensure that all videos are both streamed live and recorded (in case the Wi-Fi connection is ever interrupted), while delivering low-latency, high-resolution video to customer devices as they pilot the vehicle. Connext DDS also connects all of these systems automatically, enabling multiple streams to run at once without manual configuration.
The OpenROV team successfully completed their initial video streaming implementation using Connext DDS in just two days. They immediately realized the benefits of the framework, as the engineering team could now focus on their application data and business logic, without worrying about connectivity and performance.
"Ease of use, reliability and the technology's proven success were among the many critical factors in selecting RTI to provide the connectivity platform for our underwater drones," said Charles Cross, software engineer at OpenROV. "The Connext DDS framework enables us to rapidly enhance interoperability between the technical aspects of our products, improving the way we utilize multiple vehicles at once and the way we expand the capabilities of each individual vehicle. Additionally, it allows us keep track of where and when connectivity issues arise, so we can both solve the issues at hand and learn from them to improve future developments. We are currently working on expanding our systems into more industrial applications and we believe that RTI's vast industrial experience will serve as a strong basis for this growth."
RTI will support OpenROV as it expands into larger, industrial markets, such as shipping and inspection, aquaculture, environmental monitoring, marine construction, and search and rescue. OpenROV will continue to rely on Connext DDS as the backbone for supporting the development of their platform on this broader scale.
"From NASA autonomous systems to underwater drones, RTI Connext DDS continues to solve a wide range of connectivity challenges in the IIoT with proven experience in meeting demanding reliability requirements," said David Barnett, vice president of products and markets at RTI. "Together, OpenROV and RTI are enabling the development and widespread expansion of technologically advanced underwater drones via enhanced and reliable connectivity solutions. We look forward to continuing our work together to develop these systems across industries, deploying them for the intelligent Industrial IoT systems of the future."
About RTI
Real-Time Innovations (RTI) is the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) connectivity company. The RTI Connext® databus is a software framework that shares information in real time, making applications work together as one, integrated system. It connects across field, fog and cloud. Its reliability, security, performance and scalability are proven in the most demanding industrial systems. Deployed systems include medical devices and imaging; wind, hydro and solar power; autonomous planes, trains and cars; traffic control; Oil and Gas; robotics, ships and defense.
RTI lives at the intersection of functional artificial intelligence and pervasive networking(SM).
RTI is the largest vendor of products based on the Object Management Group (OMG) Data Distribution Service™ (DDS) standard. RTI is privately held and headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif.
RTI is hiring aggressively; see www.rti.com/careers.
Media Contacts: Emily Carey Karbo Communications for RTI 415-255-6514 emily@karbocom.com Cameron Smead Public Relations Senior Manager at RTI cameron@rti.com