Experiments in dynamic control of autonomous marine vehicles using acoustic modems

Gilbertson, Eric; Reed, Brooks L.; Leighton, Josh; Cheung, Mei Yi; Hover, Franz S.

doi:10.1109/icra.2013.6631310

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The mixed-loss control design derivation is given in Section III. We present simulation results with a linear demonstration system in Section IV and conclude the paper in Section V. This work is aimed towards future experiments with our fielded system [17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Tracking ocean fronts with multiple vehicles and mixed communication losses

Reed

Hover²

2013

2013 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems

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We make two contributions toward integrated monitoring over large spatial scales, with multiple collaborating vehicles. Our focus is dynamic ocean features such as fronts and plumes. To support strong networked-control designs, we first develop a clean linear time-invariant framework for tracking features, that directly couples the global structure of the process to vehicle positioning. To address the packet loss inherent in underwater acoustic communications, we then extend the synthesis technique of Imer et al.[1] to the case where measurements and control commands suffer loss with differing statistics among the multiple channels. Simulations show that the integrated feedback system achieves good performance in front tracking.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Tracking ocean fronts with multiple vehicles and mixed communication losses

Reed

Hover²

2013

2013 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems

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“…We use autonomous kayaks as shown in Figure 1-4 for our experiments; they are also described in [97]. Each craft is 1.8m long, weighs about 40 kg, and has a rotating thruster near the bow for propulsion and steering.…”

Section: Autonomous Surface Vehiclesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Controller design for underwater vehicle systems with communication constraints

Reed¹

2015

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Real-time cooperation between autonomous vehicles can enable time-critical missions such as tracking and pursuit of a dynamic target or environmental feature, but relies on wireless communications. Underwater, communication over distances beyond about one hundred meters is almost exclusively accomplished through acoustics, which bring challenges such as propagation delays, low data rates, packet loss, and scheduling constraints due to interference and limited bandwidth. These limitations make underwater pursuit missions preeminent applications of networked control. Motivated by such applications, this thesis presents contributions towards multi-vehicle feedback control in the presence of severe communication constraints.The first major area of work considers the formulation and solution of new underwater multi-vehicle tracking and pursuit problems using closed-loop control. We begin with a centralized robust optimization approach for multicast routing and power control which is suitable for integration with vehicle control. Next, we describe field experiments in range-based target pursuit at high tracking bandwidths in a challenging shallow-water environment. Finally, we present a methodology for pursuit of dynamic ocean features such as fronts, which we validate using hindcast ocean model data. The primary innovation is a projection algorithm which carries out linearization of ocean model forecast dynamics and uncertainty directly in vehicle coordinates via a forward model technique. The resulting coupled linear stochastic system is suitable for networked control.The second area of work presents a unified formalism for multi-vehicle control and estimation with measurement, control, and acknowledgment packets all subject to scheduling, delays and packet loss. The modular framework we develop is built around a jump linear system description incorporating receding horizon optimization and buffering at actuators. Integration of these elements enables synthesis of a novel technique for estimation using delayed and lossy control acknowledgments-a desirable and practical capability of fielded systems that has not been considered to date.Simulations and field experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.

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