Marine Robots for Underwater Surveillance

Abstract Purpose of Review The paper reviews the role of marine robots, in particular unmanned vehicles, in underwater surveillance, i.e. the control and monitoring of an area of competence aimed at identifying potential threats in support of homeland defence, antiterrorism, force protection and Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD). Recent Findings The paper explores separately robotic missions for identification and classification of threats lying on the seabed (e.g. EOD) and anti-intrusion robotic systems. The current main scientific challenge is identified in terms of enhancing autonomy and team/swarm mission capabilities by improving interoperability among robotic vehicles and providing communication networking capabilities, a non-trivial task, giving the severe limitations in bandwidth and latency of acoustic underwater messaging. Summary The work is intended to be a critical guide to the recent prolific bibliography on the topic, providing pointers to the main recent advancements in the field, and to give also a set of references in terms of mission and stakeholders' requirements (port authorities, coastal guards, navies)

A Dynamic Manipulation Strategy for an Intervention Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

This paper presents the modelling and the control architecture of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle for Intervention (I-AUV). Autonomous underwater manipulation with free-floating base is still an open topic of research, far from reaching an industrial product. Dynamic manipulation tasks, where relevant vehicle velocities are required during manipulation, over an additional challenge. In this paper, the accurate modelling of an I-AUV is described, not neglecting the interaction with the fluid. A grasp planning strategy is proposed and integrated in the control of the whole system. The performances of the I-AUV have been analysed by means of simulations of a dynamic manipulation task

Modelling and Control of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle for Mobile Manipulation

In the last few years the development of the Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) has had a greater importance because of their fundamental applications in the military field, in underwater explorations (e.g. archaeological field) and in the industrial field (e.g. for Oil&Gas). More specifically, in the evolution of the AUVs the following topics hold an important position, which are still characterized by many open problems: the dynamic performances and the control of the single vehicle, the mobile tele-manipulation of a single vehicle and the cooperation among vehicles (whether including the manipulation operations or not) [1] [2] [3] [5]. In this work the authors describe the multibody modelling and the control architecture of an AUV specifically thought for the mobile underwater manipulation, usually called I-AUV (AUV for Intervention). The performances of such an AUV will have to meet strict planning and control specifications, both as regards the vehicle itself and as for the manipulation phase

Design and testing of an innovative cleaning tool for underwater applications

The aim of this work is to describe the development of an innovative cleaning tool for underwater applications, to be used in particular in the field of underwater archaeology. This work takes place in the framework of the EU FP7-funded ARROWS project. ARROWS adapts and develops low-cost autonomous underwater vehicle technologies to significantly reduce the costs of underwater archaeological operations, covering the full extent of archaeological campaigns. The project deals with underwater mapping, diagnosis and cleaning tasks. During the first half of the project, a cleaning tool prototype, able to be mounted on underwater vehicles, has been worked out: this cleaning tool will be exploited not only during research missions but also for the periodic monitoring, controlling and maintenance activities of well-known underwater archaeological sites (e.g. periodic cleaning operations).European ARROWS project from the European Union (308724

Development of a navigation algorithm for autonomous underwater vehicles

In this paper, the authors present an underwater navigation system for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) which exploits measurements from an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), a Pressure Sensor (PS) for depth and the Global Positioning System (GPS, used during periodic and dedicated resurfacings) and relies on either the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) or the Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) for the state estimation. Both (EKF and UKF) navigation algorithms have been validated through experimental navigation data related to some sea tests performed in La Spezia (Italy) with one of Typhoon class vehicles during the NATO CommsNet13 experiment (held in September 2013) and through Ultra-Short BaseLine (USBL) fixes used as a reference (ground truth). Typhoon is an AUV designed by the Department of Industrial Engineering of the Florence University for exploration and surveillance of underwater archaeological sites in the framework of the Italian THESAURUS project and the European ARROWS project. The obtained results have demonstrated the effectiveness of both navigation algorithms and the superiority of the UKF (very suitable for AUV navigation and, up to now, still not used much in this field) without increasing the computational load (affordable for on-line on-board AUV implementation)

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

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

FeelHippo: a low-cost autonomous underwater vehicle for subsea monitoring and inspection

The paper describes the development and the main characteristics of a low-cost Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV) built by the Mechatronics and Dynamic Modelling Laboratory (MDM Lab) of the University of Florence. This vehicle is named FeelHippo, and it is an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) purposely developed to participate to the 2013 edition of the Student Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Challenge-Europe (SAUC-e, http://sauc-europe.org/) organized by the NATO-STO Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE), La Spezia, Italy. SAUC-e 2013 has been a good test field for the preliminary testing of the AUV capabilities and FeelHippo ranked third in the competition. In the paper some experimental results related to the development of a low-cost vehicle localization system, suitable inside an environment a priori known, are given and discussed