Energy-Aware Autonomy for an Unstructured Subsea Environment
Abstract
We seek advances in the ability of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to conduct long duration missions and to operate in non-permissive unstructured environments. Long-duration missions pose a number of fundamental and practical challenges, among them are theneed to minimize energy use and to bound the growth of navigation error. To operate in non-permissive unstructured environments, AUVs must be able to recognize unforeseen events and to respond in appropriate and statistically predictable ways. They must also be able to detect other actors in the environment and to respond appropriately. Overall, our approach to addressing these challenges in autonomy is to (1) leverage the efficiencies and capabilities provided by teams of cooperating AUVs, (2) rigorously assess and account for uncertainty in decision-making, and (3) engage inexperimentation through all phases of the project.We will pursue experimentation using teams of Virginia Tech 690 AUVs. An aggressive sequence of field trials will occur in the Chesapeake Bay and along the Atlantic coast of Virginia. During field trials, teams of 690 AUVs will exercise our advances in autonomy by attempting to minimize energy use while accomplishing other collaborative tasks (e.g., a seabed survey). They will also collaboratively track other actors inthe environment (e.g., shipping traffic) and modify or abandon their collaborative task in response to the actions of other actors.Approved for Public Release
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 11, 2024
- Source ID
- N000142412267
Entities
People
- Daniel J. Stilwell
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- Virginia Tech