Integrated Operational Control of Unattended Distributed Coastal Sensor Web Systems With Mobile Autonomous Robots

Abstract

Unattended autonomous systems of the future will involve groups of static and mobile sensors functioning in coordination to achieve overall task objectives. Such systems can be viewed as wirelessly networked unmanned heterogeneous sensor networks. We discuss a distributed heterogeneous sensing system with static sensors and mobile robots with novel adaptive control optimization algorithms for dynamic adaptation, coordinated control and end to end resource management of all sensors in response to detected events to achieve overall system goals and objectives. While our system design is applicable to a host of domains, it has been applied to and tested offline on an existing, functional maritime sensor web system, the New York Harbor Observation and Prediction System (NYHOPS) comprised of a host of maritime ocean and land sensors. Our goal is to enable adaptive control technologies to make the NYHOPS sensor web react faster and more effectively to threats or changing conditions, and to further maritime homeland security for the New York Harbor. Our contribution allows static sensors to work seamlessly with unmanned vehicles that can be deployed autonomously in response to detected events, and dynamically adjust operational parameters of static and mobile assets in the sensor web. Results for large area coastal monitoring are presented. Offline results using actual modeled data from in situ sensory measurements from the NYHOPS sensor web demonstrate how the sensor parameters can be adapted to maximize observability of a freshwater plume while ensuring that individual system components operate within their physical limitations.