Acquisition of AUVs for Experiments in Collaborative Autonomy
Abstract
We propose to fabricate three 690 autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to support field trialsof advanced real-time adaptive planning algorithms for mine-counter measure (MCM) missionsthat are being developed collaboratively by researchers at Virginia Tech and the Naval ResearchLaboratory. The 690 AUV is a mature system that has been developed jointly by Virginia Techand the Naval Oceanographic Office. It is a streamlined, tail-controlled AUV that displaces approximately 100 lbs. and is depth-rated for 500 meters. The 690 AUVs will be used for a largenumber of potential activities that directly address Naval needs. We will use them specifically totest new algorithms that compute search paths in real-time while considering mission constraints,environmental variability, and sensor performance. We will use the 690 AUVs to test single vehiclealgorithms as well as new approaches to multi-vehicle cooperative search. To reduce cost and risk,experimentation will leverage on-going field trials conducted by NRL in Boston Harbor. Thesefield trials use NRL???s 21??? Bluefin AUV systems. The 690 AUVs that we propose to fabricate willbe used for experiments in coordinated multi-vehicle search using heterogeneous team of AUVsthat include the NRL Bluefin AUVs. In all cases, all autonomy algorithms will be developed as aMOOS App so that the same software can be used on across all AUV systems.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jul 10, 2018
- Source ID
- N000141812467
Entities
People
- Daniel J. Stilwell
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- Virginia Tech