Undersea Acoustic Communication and Navigation Technology Development and Demonstration

摘要

This final report contains a cumulative summary of project highlights included in the annual reports. It is provided primarily to meet contract close-out requirements, but also has a list of references and related projects. Additional information is available from the authors in addition to the published papers cited herein. The long-term goals of this program include the development of an integrated acoustic communication and long-baseline acoustic navigation system that supports the requirements of the Autonomous Operations FNC program. The goal of the AO-FNC focuses on a multi-vehicle solution to the Undersea Search and Survey (USS) mission, in particular that proposed by Bluefin Robotics. The Bluefin Robotics approach utilizes several types of vehicles, all linked acoustically, to carry out the target search mission. The long-term goals of the overall program include the demonstration of the multi-vehicle capability for mapping, target detection and classification, reacquisition and ultimately neutralization. The acoustic communication system will enable the vehicles to transfer both navigation and target information around the network, and to allow external command, control, and mission progress monitoring.