Environmental Measurement Mission Planner

Effective antisubmarine warfare (ASW) requires knowledge of all aspects of the complicated undersea environment. Variability of the oceanographic temperature field affects the sound speed structure and, therefore, acoustic propagation. With the development of dynamic ocean models and long-life Autonomous Undersea Vehicles for ocean sampling, the Navy has a need for an adaptive Environmental Measurement Mission Planner (EMMP). The Environmental Measurement Mission Planner (EMMP) system addresses all aspects of this problem. The algorithm models the ocean, using state of the art physics models, estimates optimal sensor deployment strategies (and adaptively updates these while data is being taken) and assimilates the measured data into the oceanographic models. The EMMP system architecture is based upon the following critical features which we believe are fundamental to the problem: (1) Accurate ocean model prediction requires data-assimilation; (2) Optimal data assimilation requires adaptive sampling; and (3) Cost effectiveness requires optimizing sensor deployment based upon users needs. During Phase I, OASIS developed an optimal sensor planning algorithm based upon the Genetic Algorithm. In Phase II, this system will be integrated with a numerical ocean model (including data-assimilation and forecasting) and tested at sea.