AUV reactive planning: deepest point

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) capable of adapting their mission planning in response to sensor data have applicability in a variety of applications. For example, to find the source of a chemical in a fluid environment, an AUV could search a region until it detects the chemical plume, then steer the vehicle based on real-time chemical detections and flow information to maneuver the vehicle toward the odor source. Behavior based planning (BBP) is a reactive mission planning approach that is ideally suited for such applications. This article reviews behavior based planning, describes an example BBP designed to locate the deepest location within a test area, and includes results from in-water experiments on a REMUS AUV. This experiment was a test exercise in preparation for the use of BBP on a REMUS class vehicle to trace chemical plumes to their source.

I. Introduction

Various biological entities (e.g., moths, mosquitos, crabs, lobsters) are capable of tracking chemical plumes to the chemical source in turbulent fluid flow environments. Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) with such capabilities have utility in scientific and military applications. The ONR Chemical Sensing in the Marine Environment (CSME) and ONR/DARPA Chemical Plume Tracing (CPT) programs are intended to develop and demonstrate such capabilities. Efficient solution of the chemical plume tracing mission requires the AUV to have the ability to reactively change the mission plan (i.e., vehicle trajectory) in response to sensor information (e.g. chemical detection)” Preliminary plume tracing test results from the CSME program are described in a companion paper [1]. This article focuses on preliminary testing of a reactive planning methodology known as behavior based planning (BBP).