군집 AUV를 이용한 수중수색 운용 개념 및 임무 시나리오 소개

Abstract

An underwater survey system with multiple AUVs is under development. There are three operational features focusing on quick response to maritime accidents as follows: (1) quick transfer to a mother ship by a helicopter (2) rapid underwater survey using multiple AUVs and long-range sonars (3) real-time communication and fast data processing. Figure 1 shows operational concept of the total system. When a marine accident occurs in a long-distance sea area, the multiple AUVs system (mAUV) is loaded on a helicopter and transferred to a ship of Korea Coast Guard (KCG) at the accident area. The multiple AUVs are deployed one by one and scan assigned areas with long-range sidescan sonar (SSS). During the survey the AUVs uses machine learning algorithm to detect and identify targets in real-time. When a significant target is found the target information is transmitted to the mother ship through the communication system installed on USV or a robot buoy (RBB). If the system operators feel that precise survey is required, they will order to explore with an optical camera or deploy SAS AUV to perform a new mission. After the recovery of the system sonar data processing or image mosaicking is performed. There are several other scenarios depending on the unmanned vehicles and survey sensors. Figure 2 shows four scenarios for on-site demonstration with KGC. They are swarm search mode, precise search mode, USV collaboration mode, and formation control mode. For the swarm search mode multiple AUVs equipped with SSS are deployed and survey mission is performed independently. When survey mission is finished the AUVs are recovered one by one in the same order as in the deployment. For precise search mode the AUV equipped with high-resolution synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) or optical camera performs underwater survey to identify underwater targets. In USV collaboration mode a USV is used for real-time communications during underwater search. The USV follows the survey path just above the AUVs and both over-the-sea RF modem and underwater acoustic modem is used for the data transmission so that underwater targets are identified immediately. In formation control mode the multiple AUVs maintain a constant relative positions during the survey mission. The whole system will be used using the large helicopters and ships of the KCG.