5 research outputs found

    Video summary - Neptus, command and control infrastructure for heterogeneous teams of autonomous vehicles

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    This video shows a brief overview over Neptus, a command and control infrastructure for heterogeneous teams of autonomous vehicles. Having different,types of vehicles at our laboratory and from our partners, there was an increasing need to create a common infrastructure to all these systems. Additionally, a tool to support the entire mission life cycle (Planning, Execution, Review and Dissemination) was lacking. Neptus was created to provide vehicle independence and seamless inter-systems communications. Currently, Neptus has been already tested with Remotely Operated Vehicles, Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, Unmanned Air Vehicles, Autonomous Surface Vehicles and Wireless Sensor Networks. Some of these systems were operated simultaneously by various operating consoles that were sharing the same communication infrastructure. The received data was being relayed to a web server that allowed for the real-time mission following by using a common web browser

    Interoperability Among Unmanned Maritime Vehicles: Review and First In-field Experimentation

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    Complex maritime missions, both above and below the surface, have traditionally been carried out by manned surface ships and submarines equipped with advanced sensor systems. Unmanned Maritime Vehicles (UMVs) are increasingly demonstrating their potential for improving existing naval capabilities due to their rapid deployability, easy scalability, and high reconfigurability, offering a reduction in both operational time and cost. In addition, they mitigate the risk to personnel by leaving the man far-from-the-risk but in-the-loop of decision making. In the long-term, a clear interoperability framework between unmanned systems, human operators, and legacy platforms will be crucial for effective joint operations planning and execution. However, the present multi-vendor multi-protocol solutions in multi-domain UMVs activities are hard to interoperate without common mission control interfaces and communication protocol schemes. Furthermore, the underwater domain presents significant challenges that cannot be satisfied with the solutions developed for terrestrial networks. In this paper, the interoperability topic is discussed blending a review of the technological growth from 2000 onwards with recent authors' in-field experience; finally, important research directions for the future are given. Within the broad framework of interoperability in general, the paper focuses on the aspect of interoperability among UMVs not neglecting the role of the human operator in the loop. The picture emerging from the review demonstrates that interoperability is currently receiving a high level of attention with a great and diverse deal of effort. Besides, the manuscript describes the experience from a sea trial exercise, where interoperability has been demonstrated by integrating heterogeneous autonomous UMVs into the NATO Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) network, using different robotic middlewares and acoustic modem technologies to implement a multistatic active sonar system. A perspective for the interoperability in marine robotics missions emerges in the paper, through a discussion of current capabilities, in-field experience and future advanced technologies unique to UMVs. Nonetheless, their application spread is slowed down by the lack of human confidence. In fact, an interoperable system-of-systems of autonomous UMVs will require operators involved only at a supervisory level. As trust develops, endorsed by stable and mature interoperability, human monitoring will be diminished to exploit the tremendous potential of fully autonomous UMVs

    Eyes in the sky: multi-drones surveillance technology

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    Neste projeto pretende-se desenvolver uma rede de segurança baseada no trabalho cooperativo entre vários UAVs. Sabendo que os UAVs podem variar na sua autonomia, velocidade de voo, estabilidade e muitos outros fatores, será feito um estudo onde tentaremos potenciar as melhores características para a rede de segurança a desenvolver. Em simultâneo com este estudo serão aplicados algoritmos de controlo de distribuição aos vários agentes para que a cobertura da área seja máxima. O resultado final esperado deste projeto é conseguir criar um miniprograma capaz de comunicar com vários agentes de patrulha, receber as suas localizações, calcular as suas posições ideais ou, no caso de não conseguirem cobrir por completo a área, calcular uma rota de patrulha e, enviar as informações calculadas. Esperamos também que este programa possa ser usado em simulação e se possível no terreno.In this project, we will develop a security network based on the cooperation between several UAVs. Knowing that UAV's autonomy, speed, stability and many other factors, a study will be made where we will leverage the best characteristics for our goals. Simultaneously, we will design and apply a coverage algorithm to control the distribution of the agents in the area to maximize their coverage. As result of this project we wish to have a mini-program capable of communicate with several agents, read their locations, calculate their optimal positions or patrolling routes, if they can't cover all the area with their sensor range, and send them the information needed. We also want this program to be at least simulated and if possible on the field
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