Mission Control of the MARIUS AUV: System Design, Implementation, and Sea Trials (original) (raw)

Mission control of the MARIUS autonomous underwater vehicle: system design, implementation and sea trials

International Journal of Systems Science, 1998

This paper describes the design and implementation of a Mission Control System for the MARIUS Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). The framework adopted for system design builds on the key concept of Vehicle Primitive, which is a parameterized specification of an elementary operation performed by the vehicle. Vehicle Primitives are obtained by coordinating the execution of a number of concurrent System Tasks, which are parameterized specifications of classes of algorithms or procedures that implement basic functionalities in an underwater robotic system. Vehicle Primitives are in turn logically and temporally chained to form more abstract Mission Procedures, which are executed as determined by Mission Programs, in reaction to external events.

Design, development, and testing of a mission control system for the MARIUS AUV

1996

This paper describes the design, development, and sea testing of a Mission Control System for the MAR-IUS Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). The design methodology builds on the key concept of Vehicle Primitive, which is a parameterized specification of an elementary operation performed by the vehicle. A Vehicle Primitive is obtained by coordinating the execution of a number of concurrent System Tasks. Vehicle Primitives are activated to form Mission Procedures, which are executed as determined by Mission Programs, and in reaction to external events.

Hybrid-model based hierarchical mission control architecture for autonomous underwater vehicles

2005

We present a hybrid, hierarchical architecture for mission control of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). The architecture is model based and is designed with semiautomatic verification of safety and performance specifications as a primary capability in addition to the usual requirements such as real-time constraints, scheduling, shared-data integrity, etc. The architecture is realized using a commercially available graphical hybrid systems design and code generation tool. While the tool facilitates rapid redesign and deployment, it is crucial to include safety and performance verification into each step of the (re)design process. A formal model of the interacting hybrid automata in the design tool is outlined, and a tool is presented to automatically convert hybrid automata descriptions from the design tool into a format required by two hybrid verification tools. The application of this mission control architecture to a survey AUV is described and the procedures for verification outlined.

A Mission Controller for High Level Control of Autonomous and Semi-Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

OCEANS 2006, 2006

This paper reports the development of a new mission controller to provide high-level control for autonomous and semiautonomous vehicle operation. The mission controller is capable of: (a) the continuous monitor, detection and response to vehicle subsystem status (b) the detection and response to the availability of a tethered (fiber optic) or untethered (acoustic) telemetry link, and (c) the ability to dynamically load and executing new mission scripts based upon commands sent via an acoustic or fiber telemetry link or from within a mission script (d) support for real-time and fast-time simulated missions with simulated message traffic to the low level controller. Mission scripts support the programming functionality of: (a) "For" and "While" Loops (b) "If/Else" conditionals (c) variable declarations (d) subroutines defined within the mission script that are accessible by the mission controller (e) usage and alteration of variables defined within the mission controller. This mission controller is designed to provide high-level control to underwater vehicles including fully autonomous AUVs, acoustically controlled AUVs and a new class of hybrid vehicle capable of operating both as an ROV and as an AUV built upon, but not exclusive to, the existing Jason 11 control system architecture. This mission controller is currently operational on the Johns Hopkins University Remotely Operated Vehicle (JHU ROV) and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's (WHOI's) Sentry AUV. We expect it to be operational on WHOI's Hybrid Remotely Operated Vehicle in May 2007. We report the results of preliminary engineering trials of the mission controller in operation on the WHOI's Sentry AUV.

Mission specification in underwater robotics

2010

Abstract This paper describes the utilization of software design patterns and plan-based mission specification in the definition of AUVs missions. Within this approach, a mission is described in terms of a set of task-oriented plans in order to simplify mission definition and favor reutilization of some aspects of a mission. Each plan organizes how and when basic tasks like measurement sampling, navigation or communication are to be carried out.

A Reconfigurable Mission Control System for Underwater Vehicles

… IEEE. Riding the Crest into the …, 2002

This paper describes the mission control software used in the LSTS/FEUP underwater vehicles. This software follows the guidelines of the generalized vehicle architecture [1], adapts the original idea to encompass the current application requirements and constitutes a first implementation.

A distributed architecture for enabling autonomous underwater Intervention Missions

2010 IEEE International Systems Conference, 2010

This work introduces the main aspects related with a new architecture defined for an ongoing research project named RAUVI (i.e. Reconfigurable AUV for Intervention Missions). Two initially independent architectures for the underwater vehicle and the robotic arm have been combined into a new schema that allows for reactive and deliberative behaviours on both subsystems. Reactive actions are performed through a low-level control layer in communication with the robot hardware via an abstraction interface. On the other hand, the intervention mission is supervised at a high-level by a Mission Control System (MCS), implemented using the Petri net formalism. Both, the arm and vehicle perception and control modules communicate with the MCS by means of actions and events. They also share a centralized database where some sensor data is stored. The proposed architecture allows for the supervised execution of intervention missions requiring a tight coordination between the vehicle and the manipulator.

Operations and control of unmanned underwater vehicles

Robótica, 2005

Operations and control of unmanned underwater vehicle systems are discussed in terms of systems and technologies, vehicles, operational deployments and concepts of operation. The notions underlying the specification of single vehicle operations are contrasted to new concepts of operation to illustrate the challenges they pose to control engineering. New research directions are discussed in the context of the theories and techniques from dynamic optimization and computer science. The overall discussion is done in the context of the activities of the