Development of a self-organising underwater vehicle

Objective

This project is the initial step to endow the autonomous
underwater vehicle MARIUS with decision making capabilities
and intelligent-like behaviour. In the first phase of the
project the vehicle will be upgraded to achieve increased
hydrodynamic performance and to operate up to a depth of 600 meters. Moreover, the vehicle will be equipped with deflecting surfaces (elevator, rudders, ailerons) for increased
maneuverability. The design of a multibeam forward looking
sonar to achieve 3-D obstacle detection will be completed.
This entails the modification of a commercially available
real-time updating sonar to obtain 3-D representations based on multiple 2-D shooting.

The second phase is a detailed study of a Mission Operations System that consists of an off-line Mission Preparation System (MPS) and a Mission Management System (MMS) for on-line
mission performance assessment and reactive mission planning. Both systems will be validated in simulation. The MPS is
organized around a dedicated computer interface that accepts the mission data (environmental conditions, number and
locations of sites to be inspected, global terrain profile,
tasks to be executed at each site, etc.), validates the
mission inputs and proposes a mission plan that is transferred to the on-board resident MMS. The role of the MMS is to
coordinate the different modules that make up the vehicle,
assess their status and the overall mission performance, and react to unforeseen events and replan the mission whenever
necessary. Some of the MMS responses will be part of a list of contingency plans, while others will be the result of an
on-line decision making process (for example, upon detection of an obstacle by the Obstacle Detection System, a pre-planned trajectory must be modified so that the vehicle may avoid the collision and return to the original mission promptly). The
design and development of the Mission Preparation and Mission Management Systems will build on realistic mission scenarios that will be defined in cooperation with marine laboratories and geological institutes in Europe. For each mission
scenario, the performance required will be translated into a set of measurable quantities that include, among others, the mission duration, radius of action, cruising speed,
navigational accuracy, communication data rates, magnitude of sea currents that the AUV must withstand and contingency plans in the face of detected anomalies.

Programme(s)

• FP3-MAST 2 - Specific research and technological development programme (EEC) in the field of marine science and technology, 1990-1994

Topic(s)

• 0302 - Underwater acoustics

Call for proposal

Data not available

Funding Scheme

CSC - Cost-sharing contracts

Coordinator

INSTITUTO SUPERIOR TECNICO

Address

Avenida Rovisco Pais 1, Torre Norte 7
1096 Lisboa
Portugal

Participants (5)

COWI CONSULTING ENGINEERS AND PLANNERS AS

Denmark

Address

15,parallelvej 15
2800 Lyngby

Laboratoire International de Biologie Marine

France

Address

85350 Ile-d'yeu

ORCA INSTRUMENTATION S.A.R.L.

France

Address

Rue Pierre Rivoallon 5
29200 Brest

RESON A/S

Denmark

Address

13,fabriksvangen 13
3550 Slangerup

Thomson Marconi Sonar SAS

France

Address

525,route Des Dolines
06903 Sophia Antipolis