UAV and AUVs coordination for ocean exploration

In this paper, we develop a coordination mechanism for multiple autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and a single unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) cooperatively performing a ocean exploration mission. The UAV and the AUVs have limited sensor and communication constraints. The AUVs are deployed in the ocean and surface when their mission leg is completed. The UAV flies over the AUV, acquires the information procured by the AUV and generates a new mission plan to the AUV. The UAV has to meet all the AUVs and reach the base station within a prescribed sortie time. However, the AUVs may not complete the assigned task and may surface anywhere along the current mission leg. Hence, the UAV has to take the uncertainty of AUV surfacing into account while it generates the next mission plan to the AUV otherwise it may not satisfy the sortie time constraint. We develop a robust mechanism of determining the route for the UAV and path generation for the AUV such that the UAV always reaches the base station within the sortie time limit. Theoretical results are presented to show the robustness of the algorithms. Simulations are carried out to show how the mission is accomplished.