Improving autonomy and control of autonomous surface vehicles in port protection and mine countermeasure scenarios

Abstract

AbstractRecent experimentation with autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs) has focused on the use of such platforms to perform tasks of classification or identification of objects first discovered by another sensor. The ASV generally carries small sensors capable of high‐resolution imaging, but only at relatively short ranges. Reacquisition of a contact is inherent in the problem of classification and involves positioning of the surface vehicle with good precision such that the object of interest is in the field of view of the sensors aboard the ASV. This critical task of positioning the vehicle such that the classification sensors can be effectively brought to bear is the primary goal of our autonomy development. Experimental results from a variety of sensors are presented, but the most important in our present work has been a high‐resolution multibeam imaging sonar operating at 450 kHz. This sensor has been successfully used to image divers and bottom objects, with telemetry data sent back to shore via wireless LAN. Although classification was done by a human operator ashore, the vehicle has the capability to keep an object in view of the sensor, representing an important operational advantage of the autonomy. Future work could expand the role of the unmanned platform to deployment of effectors—warning devices or entanglement devices in the case of harbor protection missions or neutralization devices in the case of countermine operations. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.