Autonomous Ship Detection System.

摘要

Due to the events of September-11-2001 the U.S. Coast Guard has requested and received from the Office of Naval Research the approval to change the focus of the original proposal from autonomous ship detection to the use of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) for Port Security operations. This decision was approved in mid March-2002 and work commenced the beginning of April- 2002. Our new goal is to demonstrate the efficacy of using AUVs to scan underwater surfaces (ship hulls, docks, etc.) to detect anomalies requiring additional investigation for risk assessment. This could lead to an effective system for scanning large volume port traffic in a consistent and efficient (timely) manner. A further goal is to demonstrate to the Coast Guard the advantages of using AUV technologies to provide significantly greater undersea access.