is a general class of perception and control problems defined by critical space
and time scales: a follower that cannot
maintain adequate real-time performance will simply be unable to keep up. Autonomous pursuit missions in the ocean
include tracking of a marine vehicle or animal, and monitoring a large-scale
ocean process like an oil plume or chemical front. The opportunity for multi-vehicle sensing
systems to contribute is clear, but wireless communication has been a perennial
bottleneck that prevents truly dynamic operation. Network-based control, a major research area
over the last ten years, offers some solutions since packet loss, quantization,
and delay are all relevant to gateway arrangements and acoustic modems in use today.
I
will discuss some of the framework and leading approaches for disciplined
design of marine vehicle teams operating under severe communication
constraints. Our work includes the
multi-armed bandit for stochastic adaptive positioning, target pursuit with joint
estimation and coordinated control through acoustic modems, and an extension of
target pursuit to follow ocean features.
This integrated “plume-chaser” mission is made possible by projecting a
predictive field model onto vehicle coordinates, and applying strong synthesis
tools within a linear time-invariant framework.