Experimental Analysis of Autonomous Ship Launch and Recovery with Networked Rotorcraft and Maneuvering Ships
Abstract
The purpose of this action is to provide FY24 CR3 funds, in the amount of $100K, for a new start Grant award. --The U.S. Navy has identified autonomous ship launch and recovery (L&R) as a desired future capability for both manned and unmanned sea-based rotorcraft. This capability should be achieved in a wide range of adverse operating conditions (high sea states, high windconditions, poor visibility) while minimizing the radiation of detectable signals and avoiding reliance on the Global Positioning System (GPS) or other external navigation aids. Highly controlled experiments are essential to providing fundamental understanding ofthe challenges, limitations, and design requirements of autonomous launch and recovery systems. The U.S. Navy also has interest in teaming of multiple autonomous and human-operated systems - including multiple sea-based aircraft and multiple surface vessels serving as launch and recovery platforms. Autonomous coordination of operations between multiple agents has the potential to greatly increase the rate of launch and recovery operations.Penn State and the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division (NWSCCD) have recently developed and successfully demonstrated scaled experiments of autonomous landing under ONR grant N00014-20-1-2092. The experiments involved low-cost multi-rotor drones operating within the NWSCCD Maneuvering and Sea-keeping Basin (MASK). The drones use low-cost commodities electronics and small on-board cameras to provide a relative navigation solution of a scaled ship model. The MASK provided realistic and repeatable waves to drive the ship motion while an OptiTrack motion capture system provided geolocation and truth data on rotorcraft / ship states. Over 180 successful landings were performed with many variations in the controller and trajectory generation algorithms. The data was used to analyze the design requirements for the autonomous landing system.The MASK tests developed in the previous study have established a well-tested and validated hardware and software configuration that can now be leveraged in more rigorous studies. Whereas the previous study focused only on autonomous landing, the proposed project seeks to extend theinvestigation to more comprehensive procedures. This will include launch, searching for and locating the ship, initiating a pattern, lining up for an initial approach, as well as final recovery. The tests will incorporate moving ships (in previous studies the ship was tethered). In addition, the test will be expanded to include multiple ships and multiple drones performing coordinated operations. Finally, the study will make use of the Common Research Configuration (CRC) UAV platform (a quad-rotor biplane tail-sitter aircraft) which will feature more complex aerodynamics than the simple multi-rotor drones used in the previous research.Approved for Public Release
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 11, 2024
- Source ID
- N000142412279
Entities
People
- Joseph Horn
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- Pennsylvania State University
- United States Navy