CSAIL Event Calendar: Previous Series

Distributed Autonomous Acoustic Sensing Systems for the Littoral Ocean

Speaker: Prof. Henrik Schmidt , Dept of Mechanical Engineering, MIT
Date: April 4 2006
Time: 4:05PM to 5:05PM
Location: Star Room, 32-D463
Host: Daniela Rus, CSAIL

Distributed Autonomous Acoustic Sensing Systems for the Littoral Ocean

Henrik Schmidt
Professor of Mechanical andOcean Engineering
Laboratory for Autonomous Marine Sensing Systems

Ocean exploration and naval operations are currently experiencing a
dramatic paradigm shift from platform-centric sensing and operation
towards net-centric off-board sensing networks capable of fully
autonomous operations in denied littoral areas. This paradigm shift is
largely driven by the revolutionary development in autonomous vehicle
technology, and wireless network communication, command and control
experienced over the last decade. However, the lack of GPS severely
limits underwater navigation, and communication underwater is several
orders of magnitude slower than wireless RF communication, and
inherently characterized by strong intermittency and latency.
Consequently such sensing networks must be capable of operating with no
or at least very limited operator control. Most existing sonars are
dependent on a human operator for interpretation and intervention, and
are unlikely to be optimal for adaptation to AUVs., which are still a
far cry from having human intelligence. This paper discusses the
limitations of the existing sonar concepts in this regard, and
demonstrates how a relatively simple, generalized SAS sonar may be
integrated with the autonomous vehicle control to concurrently detect,
classify and locate targets, while simultaneously and adaptively
navigate the platform using autonomous, feature-based navigation concepts.

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