Communication and Control for Fleets of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

Abstract

The communication and control performance of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) relates directly to the tactical warfighting capability for force multiplication and improved effectiveness. The project objective is to develop a comprehensive design procedure for communication among, and decentralized control of, a fleet of AUVs. The AUVs consist of small submarines, called "swimmers," and small tracked vehicles called "crawlers." The vehicles are capable of organizing themselves in specified geometric patterns and navigating between predetermined points and around obstacles. Communication and distributed control concepts for a fleet of cooperating AUVs were investigated theoretically, by computer simulation, and through prototype testing in a controlled in-water environment. The testing was performed at the NSWCCD facilities at Bayview, Idaho. We investigated both fuzzy logic and system theoretic approaches to the control problem. We investigated and developed communication strategies appropriate for the fleet-wide control problem.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 30, 2006
Accession Number
ADA458488

Entities

People

  • Dean B. Edwards

Organizations

  • University of Idaho

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Algorithms
  • Autonomous Underwater Vehicles
  • Autonomous Vehicles
  • Collision Avoidance
  • Communication Systems
  • Control Systems
  • Control Systems Engineering
  • Fuzzy Logic
  • Language
  • Logic
  • Navigation
  • Random Walk
  • Shallow Water
  • Simulations
  • Underwater Vehicles
  • Vehicles

Readers

  • Maritime and Naval Warfare Studies
  • Sensor Fusion and Tracking Systems.
  • Systems Analysis and Design