Network of heterogeneous autonomous vehicles for marine research and management

In April 2016, NTNU, FFI, Kongsberg Seatex, LSTS and Maritime Robotics set up an experiment to explore their capability to combine the research vessel Gunnerus, the AUV Hugin, the UAV X8 and the USV Mariner in a network of heterogeneous unmanned vehicles. Communication, manoeuvring, onboard processing and operational complexity are essential components in such networks. To provide communication the MBR broadband radio system was implemented. To show the capabilities of the system proposed, a scenario with seabed mapping and target recognition was defined. The experiment made it apparent that these networks has the potential of significantly saving cost for data collection in marine research and management by reducing ship time. To fully unlock the potential of networks of heterogeneous unmanned vehicles, the missions of each vehicle need to be more integrated.