Underwater multi-robot persistent area coverage mission planning

The search mission for the missing MH370 airplane demonstrated that an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) managed by a crew is a reliable resource for critical missions. However, it highlighted the cost associated with human support in robotic operations. This paper presents a mission planning strategy that takes mission constraints such as number of available AUVs and their characteristics, as well as charging resources available (both energy-carrying agents and charging stations) to generate a set of efficient trajectories for AUVs and locations for either energy-carrying agents rendezvous or charging stations placement. The goal is to ensure efficient use of the resources and reduce operational costs.