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Talk-20: Nested Autonomy: A Robust Operational Paradigm forCommunication-Constrained Undersea Sensing Network

Henrik Schmidt, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Ocean monitoring and observation is undergoing a dramatic paradigm shift from platform-centric, human-controlled sensing, processing and interpretation, toward distributed sensing concepts using networks of autonomous underwater vehicles. However, being dependent on acoustic communication with a channel capacity many orders of magnitude smaller than the air and land-based equivalents, the operation of such new distributed undersea observation systems require a much higher level of autonomous, distributed data processing and control than land- and air-based equivalents. Nested Autonomy is a new command and control paradigm, inherently suited for the layered communication infrastructure provided by the low-bandwidth underwater acoustic communication and the intermittent RF connectivity. Implemented using the open-source MOOS-IvP behavior-based, autonomous command and control architecture, it provides the fully integrated sensing, modeling and control that allows each platform to autonomously detect, classify, localize and track an episodic event in the ocean, without depending on any operator command and control. The prosecution of an event, such as the detection and tracking of a sub-sea volcanic plume or an oceanographic feature, may be initiated by the operators or entirely autonomously by an onboard detection capability. The event information collected by each node in the network is reported back to the operators by transmitting an event report, using a dedicated command and control language. Collaborative processing and control is exploited when the communication channel allows, e.g. for collaborative tracking of a coastal front, or the tracking of marine mammals. Examples will be given from several recent field deployments involving several autonomous underwater and surface vehicles for acoustic and oceanographic undersea sensing and monitoring [Work supported by the Office of Naval Research, DARPA and the NATO Undersea Research Centre].

Categories:

  • Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs)
  • Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASVs)
  • Collaborative Autonomy
  • MOOS-IvP
  • Acoustic Communications
  • Ocean Sampling