Cooperative Autonomy and Data Fusion for Underwater Surveillance with Networked AUVs

Abstract

Cooperative autonomy and data sharing can largely improve the mission performance of robotic networks in un- derwater surveillance applications. In this paper, we describe the cooperative autonomy used to control the Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) acting as sonar receiver nodes in the CMRE Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) network. The paper focuses on a track management module that was integrated in the robot autonomy software for enabling the share of information. Track to track (T2T) associations are used for improving track classification and for creating a common tactical picture, necessary for AUV cooperative strategies. We also present a new cooperative data-driven AUV behaviour that exploits the spatial diversity of multiple robots for improving target tracking and for facilitating T2T associations. We report results with real data collected at sea that validate the approach. The reported results are one of the first examples that show the potential of cooperative autonomy and data fusion in realistic underwater surveillance scenarios characterised by limited communications.