Distributed Collaborative Planning and Control for Undersea Surveillance using Swarms of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

The Navy is just beginning the development of concepts of operations (CONOPS) for using large numbers of undersea vehicles and sensors in autonomous, collaborative networks designed to conduct ASW, mine hunting, harbor and Fleet defense, and environmental sensing. There are many constraints on network performance, some due to physics, some to the current state-of-the-art in various technologies. For purposes of this proposal, we consider the issues of physics and modem capabilities and the impact those have on network design and utilization. The discussion of physics is familiar, with the limitations imposed on the performance of acoustic communications reasonably well documented and understood. On the other hand, these physical issues have always been addressed in terms of the limitations imposed by current modem technology, particularly half duplex links and compromise between the desire for asynchronous multi-access and the need for dedicated channels to convey large amounts of data. This proposal recognizes the advent of new technology which will materially affect CONOPS considerations. Among the anticipated enhancements to modem technology are the design and construction of a single modem able to function simultaneously in two distinct frequency bands. From a conceptual point of view, this will permit us to, for example, restrict one channel to a low data rate, very robust command and control (C2) channel to be used in an asynchronous, multi-access mode by multiple platforms. At the same time, the second channel might be controlled for dedicated high data rate telemetry. This proposal address the CONOPS implications of these technological advances.