Communication and Control for Fleets of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

Abstract

Abstract : The communication and control performance of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) relates directly to the tactical warfighting capability for force multiplication and improved effectiveness. The project objective is to develop a comprehensive design procedure for communication among, and decentralized control of, a fleet of AUVs. The AUVs consist of small submarines, called swimmers, and small tracked vehicles called crawlers. The vehicles are capable of organizing themselves in specified geometric patterns and navigating between predetermined points and around obstacles. Communication and distributed control concepts for a fleet of cooperating AUVs were investigated theoretically, by computer simulation, and through prototype testing in a controlled in-water environment. The testing was performed at the NSWCCD facilities at Bayview, Idaho. We investigated both fuzzy logic and system theoretic approaches to the control problem. We investigated and developed communication strategies appropriate for the fleet-wide control problem.