Design and development of route planner for Unmanned Surface Vehicles

Vladimir Díaz Charris,Juan A Contreras Montes

doi:10.25043/19098642.151

Abstract

This paper describes the development of a route planner for Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) focused on the study of an operational scenario for a specific mission – Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW). Through the design and implementation of a simulation model, the effect of the different factors that particularly influence ASW is analyzed, such as search pattern, speed and sensor type; dipping sonar or towed array sonar (TAS). By obtaining a measurement of effectiveness, the USV’s response in the deployment of this type of mission can be defined using time to detect the threat in a search area, as parameters to measure the performance.

Highlights

For the accomplishment of missions with unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), it is very important to have tools that allow the prediction or estimation of the time, trajectory, performance and effectiveness in the accomplishment of tasks, and even more so when taking into account the complexity of performing specific missions such as Mine Countermeasures (MCM), Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), Maritime Security, Surface Warfare (SUW), Special Operations Forces (SOF) Support, Electronic Warfare (EW) and Maritime Interdiction Operations, which are common for this type of vehicles. [1]
For the type of sonar, a physical model that determines a theory developed for the detection of the submarine is not established within the simulation, which means that a submarine is detected as long as it
After simulating the model for different combinations of sensors, patterns and velocity for both USVs, the results are entered into the JMP tool where a least squares regression model is implemented in order to analyze the behavior of the model outputs

Summary

Introduction

For the accomplishment of missions with unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), it is very important to have tools that allow the prediction or estimation of the time, trajectory, performance and effectiveness in the accomplishment of tasks, and even more so when taking into account the complexity of performing specific missions such as Mine Countermeasures (MCM), Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), Maritime Security, Surface Warfare (SUW), Special Operations Forces (SOF) Support, Electronic Warfare (EW) and Maritime Interdiction Operations, which are common for this type of vehicles. [1].This research focuses on the development of a model to replicate a particular ASW scenario using different computational tools such as Matlab® and Labview®. To perform the detection of an ASW threat, equipment such as sonobuoys and different types of sonars that differ in their mode of operation are used; Helmet sonar, Dipping Sonar, TAS - Towed Array Sonar [2]. These sensors perform the first detection, using specialized equipment the classification of the type of unit and subsequent monitoring and neutralization is performed using torpedoes or mines. Within the detection of a submarine, there are parameters such as the speed of sound in the water, temperature and salinity profile, type of background, depth, among others, that must be taken into account to achieve a high detection probability

Methods

Results

Conclusion