Investigations of the Ocean Interior using a Mobile System of Autonomous Platforms and Acoustic Tracking

Abstract

Approved for Public ReleaseWe propose to participate in designing and implementing a mobile, autonomous observing system to quantify three-dimensional mesoscale and submesoscale circulation, stirring and mixing associated with the ubiquitous interleaving featuresobserved in the seasonal pycnocline and below. A flexible, persistent, self-localizing network of autonomous gliders, floats and autonomous surface vessels will capture the evolving spatial and temporal scales of interior circulation. Building on our group#s experience and recent developments stemming from AMOS INP and other ONR projects, we propose to (1) refine existing isopycnal loitering capability to shorten seek time and enable SGX gliders to function as mobile/repositionable Lagrangian floats, (2) develop a 10 kHz system to enable asset-to-asset tracking, to allow a network of autonomous platforms to self-localize, (3) implement the 10 kHz system on Seaglider and share with other RIOT autonomous platform operators, (4) develop autonomous feature following/sampling capability for the Seaglider family of vehicles, and (5) use the resulting system of autonomous platforms to pursue a study of interior submesoscale circulation selected in collaboration with the RIOT science team. Sharing and coordinating our technology developments across the RIOT team will be an essential part of the project.

Document Details

Document Type
DoD Grant Award
Publication Date
Nov 09, 2024
Source ID
N000142412713

Entities

People

  • Craig Lee

Organizations

  • Office of Naval Research
  • United States Navy
  • University of Washington

Tags

Readers

  • Distributed Systems and Data Platform Development
  • Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Modeling, Data Assimilation, and Flux Boundary Layers
  • Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Autonomous Capabilities and Mission Reconnaissance.

Technology Areas

  • Autonomy
  • Autonomy - Autonomous System Control