Mission Planning Toolkit (MPT) for Coordination and Control of Multiple Autonomous Vehicles.

摘要

The Autonomous Ocean Sampling Network (AOSN II) program, as currently envisioned, is an initial step to implement adaptive sampling utilizing multiple sensing platforms. A key aspect of this program is the ability for many heterogeneous assets to communicate data and information among and between each other as well as with geographically dispersed users. The communication infrastructure necessary to allow this to happen is complex. It implies seamless communications from the sea bottom through the water column to surface and air borne craft. The Mission Planning Toolkit for Coordination and Control of Multiple Autonomous Vehicles supports the AOSN efforts. The communication infrastructure to allow this to happen can be thought of as having three components: 1.) an effective method of communicating from one vehicle or node to another (a link), 2.) a method of interconnecting the individual vehicles or communication nodes (a network), and 3.) a common understanding of the information, data and commands to be passed through the communication infrastructure (a common vocabulary/language). This is critically important if the autonomous systems are to eventually accomplish a defined task with only minimal intervention of a human operator/s. The long-term goal of this effort is to provide a means for controlling a fleet of AUVs while they accomplish a cooperative mission. Specifically this implies a user interface and a mission programming environment to allow a user to configure the fleet of vehicles to accomplish a desired task. In concert with this development of a user interface is a development effort to establish a Common Control Language (CCL) that will provide a standard command language for heterogeneous AUVs.