GOATS 2005: Integrated, Adaptive Autonomous Acoustic Sensing Systems

Abstract

LONG-TERM GOALSTo develop net-centric, autonomous underwater vehicle sensing concepts for littoral MCM and ASW, exploring collaborative and environmentally adaptive, bi-and multi-static, passive and active sonar configurations for concurrent detection, classification and localization of proud and buried targets. OBJECTIVESThe objective of the continuing GOATS interdisciplinary research program is to develop, implement and demonstrate real-time, onboard integrated acoustic sensing, signal processing and platform control algorithms for adaptive, collaborative, multiplatform REA, MCM, and ASW in unknown and unmapped littoral environments with uncertain navigation and communication infrastructure.A principal GOATS objective the development of a nested, distributed command and control architecture that enables individual network nodes of clusters of nodes to complete the mission objectives, including target detection, classification, localization and tracking (DCLT), fully autonomously with no or limited communication with the network operators. The need for such a nested, autonomous communication, command and control architecture has become clear from the series of experiments carried out in the past under GOATS. Thus, the experiments, most recently MB'06, have shown that acoustic communication cannot be relied upon for more traditional,