Clandestine Mine Countermeasures Optimization for Autonomy and Risk Assessment
Abstract
Mines are inexpensive, easily deployed, and put distributed maritime operations (DMO) at high-risk, particularly as Great Power Competition (GPC) requires naval forces to operate in contested environments. Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) will play an increasingly important role in mine countermeasures (MCM), but research is required to optimize their performance when support from surface or airborne assets is denied or severely limited by the constraints of GPC. This project investigated methods for AUVs to conduct entirely clandestine MCM. It examined whether a conventional MCM search problem could be inverted: instead of conducting sequential operations to find and neutralize mines in a predefined transit lane, an AUV can find a navigable mine-free route that maximizes its probability of survival, potentially decreasing MCM mission timelines. Preliminary results suggest that this framework can also be used to prioritize mines for neutralization to achieve acceptable risk levels. Additional student thesis research examined methods for object detection and size determination with forward-looking sonar (FLS) to enable more efficient AUV path planning.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 31, 2022
- Accession Number
- AD1190618
Entities
People
- Isaac Kaminer
- Sean P. Kragelund
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School