Experimental Test and Evaluation of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

摘要

AUV will increasingly play critical roles for maritime operations and warfare;however,they must first become trusted assets that complement an organisations culture and existing capability.This dependency is a global challenge for organisations implementing AUV,where robotics control systems are becoming more capable,yet the user or organisation may not be prepared for their effective integration and employment.Operational Test & Evaluation(OT&E)is the opportunity to determine the readiness of the overall system for deployments;however,OT&E of complex robotic systems such as AUV is notoriously difficult and evolving.Hence,a framework for Experimental T&E(ET&E),merging research,development,acceptance and operational testing through designed experiments is appropriate.This paper outlines a repea-table,comparable ET&E framework to determine suitability,readiness,and improvement of AUV for Mine Counter-Measures.The framework proposed maintains a focus on technical capability throughout operational testing,but is adaptable for different organisations,and operating concepts.