Acoustic motion estimation and control for an unmanned underwater vehicle in a structured environment

The problem of identification and navigation, guidance and control in unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) is addressed in this paper. A task-function-based guidance system and an acoustic motion estimation module have been integrated with a conventional UUV autopilot within a two-layered hierarchical architecture for closed-loop control. Basic techniques to estimate the robot dynamics using the sensors mounted on the vehicle have been investigated. The proposed identification techniques and navigation, guidance and control (NGC) system have been tested on Roby2, a UUV developed at the Istituto Automazione Navale of the Italian C.N.R. The experimental set-up, as well as the modalities and results, are discussed.Programma Nazionale di Recerche in Antartide (PNRA

The cubicle warrior: the marionette of the digitalized warfare

In the last decade we have entered the era of remote controlled military technology. The excitement about this new technology should not mask the ethical questions that it raises. A fundamental ethical question is who may be held responsible for civilian deaths. In this paper we will discuss the role of the human operator or so-called ‘cubicle warrior’, who remotely controls the military robots behind visual interfaces. We will argue that the socio-technical system conditions the cubicle warrior to dehumanize the enemy. As a result the cubicle warrior is morally disengaged from his destructive and lethal actions. This challenges what he should know to make responsible decisions (the so-called knowledge condition). Nowadays and in the near future, three factors will influence and may increase the moral disengagement even further due to the decrease of locus of control orientation: (1) photo shopping the war; (2) the moralization of technology; (3) the speed of decision-making. As a result, cubicle warriors cannot be held reasonably responsible anymore for the decisions they make

Modeling and identification of open-frame variable configuration unmanned underwater vehicles

A lumped parameter model of open-frame unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV's) including the effects of propeller-hull and propeller-propeller interactions is presented. The identification of the model parameters consists of a least squares method using only on-board sensor data without requiring any towing tank tests. The identification scheme is based on separate tests for the estimation of drag and thruster installation coefficients, taking into account propeller-hull and propeller-propeller effects first and inertia parameters subsequently. The scheme has been experimentally implemented on ROMEO, the latest UUV developed by CNR-IAN. Experimental results show both the effectiveness of the proposed method and the relevance of the propeller-hull and propeller-propeller interactions that are usually neglected in standard UUV models

Application of LS and EKF Techniques to the Identification of Underwater Vehicles

The modelling and identification of an open-frame underwater vehicle for marine applications has been considered. The goal of this work is to demonstrate that modelling and identification of small underwater vehicles is feasible at low cost: the identification has been accomplished using only standard on-board devices. First, the selection of a model for such vehicles is discussed, as well as a suitable identification method. The parameters of the selected model have been identified in two steps, based on least squares (LS) and extended Kalman filter (EKF) techniques. The results of the identification applied to experimental data are presented and discussed