Cooperation Between Autonomous Marine Platforms

Abstract

In recent years, autonomous marine systems have increasingly been used for civilian and military purposes. Usually, the platforms act as independent units, which limits their usefulness. The main objective of this research is to enhance the capabilities of autonomous marine vehicles - either autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) or autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs) - by allowing cooperation between them. In this paper, we examine a multi-variable system utilizing autonomous nonlinear vehicles whose coupled dynamic effects depend on complicated hydrodynamics, generalized forces and variables, and limited communications. A simulator based on the Robotic Operation System (ROS) with GAZEBO as the simulation environment was employed. The simulator models the dynamics of the autonomous vehicles and the behavior of the sensors, and it is used for testing and evaluating the cooperation algorithms before and after performing actual trials at sea.