Autonomous, Cooperative Behavior Amongst Unmanned Surface Vehicles

We propose a new miniature USV called Piranha, leapfrogging the normal Phase I study phase and using this time and budget to begin integration of our existing Micro UAV autopilot, the TGE, with cooperative swarming algorithms supplied by JHU/APL. Our GN&C capability currently powers the Locust Micro UAV, and APL has tested their algorithms on larger, much more expensive platforms. During Phase 1, we will integrate both onto an inexpensive, miniature USV. A successful demonstration of this low cost capability shall be followed in Phase 2 by USV capability upgrades including engine and sensor packages, as well as dedicated swarm algorithm testing including Locust MAVs as an airborne component of the swarming behavior.