Supervisory Control of Untethered Undersea Systems: A New Paradigm Verified

摘要

The primary advantage of untethered underwater systems is freedom from cables. Tethered systems benefit from realtime human control based upon immediate information received from the remote vehicle. This paper describes a well-proven system which has the advantages of both, and proposes that the concepts utilized therein offer exciting new possibilities for exploring and exploiting the deep ocean. The Advanced Unmanned Search System (AUSS) features an underwater vehicle which is both unmanned and untethered, yet not strictly autonomous. Communication with a surface ship is accomplished by means of underwater sound, as employed by a sophisticated digital acoustic link. Operation is analogous to radio-controlled robotic space probes: the vehicle generally proceeds on its own intelligence while transmitting status information and mission data, but it can receive new instructions at any time. AUSS is, in fact, far more versatile than a probe, with such abilities as going to a newly commanded location, hovering at a specified altitude and location, executing a complete search pattern, or returning home on command.