Cooperative Underwater Survey with an L3Harris Iver UUV and Strategic Robotic Systems FUSION ROV

Abstract

Traditional underwater surveys involve towing sides-can sonar equipment from a surface vessel and capturing data for manual review. This mode of survey suffers from a number of detriments such as data degradation due to physical surface effects (e.g. winds and waves), piloting error, and delay in locating targets of interest within the data. Further, there is added risk while revisiting targets later with human divers for high-resolution inspection of targets. L3Harris and Strategic Robotic Systems (SRS) have recently partnered to develop a heterogeneous search and survey system through a combination of unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) and hybrid remotely operated vehicle (ROV) assets that is able to leverage the speed and coverage offered by untethered assets, like UUVs, with the precision and accuracy of tethered assets (ROVs) to increase mission efficiency while reducing dive-related risks and overall mission duration. In an effort to eliminate many of the impediments of traditional surveys, L3Harris and SRS have devised a coordination scheme using acoustic communications between a surface vessel and a UUV, paired with a tasking agent installed on the SRS rugged control console that generates mission plans for the ROV and prioritizes incoming target information. A discussion of the software and hardware involved is presented in addition to an overview of field trials of the system.