ConSys - a new software framework for underwater vehicles

Today a large number of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are evaluated or operated all over the world. Most of them use their own control systems created by the vehicle's manufacturer or scientists of different research areas. The Fraunhofer Application Center System Technology currently owns three underwater vehicles (both AUVs and remotely operated vehicles, ROVs), a forth is under development. All these vehicles have their individual control systems that are very different with respect to changing / creating software modules, mission planning and evaluation. These differences are one reason to develop a new software framework for underwater vehicles called ConSys.

I. Introduction

Operating a number of autonomous systems from different vendors is a challenge for their crews. Beside different mission preparation tasks like battery charging, sensor and actuator checks and communication setup, the mission planning procedures vary entirely from vehicle to vehicle. Typically, expert knowledge is required to plan and monitor the mission as well as to evaluate the collected data. While the data post processing and evaluation is an automatable job, planning and monitoring are very time consuming and important error sources.