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Development and Deployment of Multi-mission Intelligent Autonomous Maritime Systems

Cherokee Nation Strategic Programs (CNSP) and Ocean Aero, Inc. have teamed together to demonstrate the multi-mission capabilities of commercial autonomous maritime systems. CNSP has a proven record testing, fielding, and developing Unmanned Systems (UxS) programs across air, ground, and maritime domains. Ocean Aero has developed a portfolio of intelligent autonomous underwater and surface vehicles that are uniquely engineered for a wide range of applications above and below the ocean surface. The focus of our collaboration is the accelerated deployment of autonomous capabilities in operational mission scenarios. Unmanned systems are demonstrating daily value to commercial and civilian users today. Drones are rapidly moving beyond powerful remotely controlled information capture tools into advanced networks of aerial robots providing services and access that was never before considered valuable. Ground robot technologies are maturing just as rapidly and taking on many different forms as purpose-built systems are enabling subterranean exploration, driver safety on interstate highways, and disaster response support. Maritime systems are now fulfilling the same potential with robust, all-weather designs that enable long endurance, rugged missions for marine users. The operational value that these systems provide comes from the advancements in intelligent autonomy. We are currently testing the range of autonomous capabilities of the Ocean Aero Triton Series autonomous underwater and surface vehicle systems at the University of Southern Mississippi Marine Research Center (USM MRC). The Ocean Aero vehicles are designed and built with autonomous, persistent navigation capabilities as a standard feature. Additional customized, mission-centric sensors may be added to the systems to accomplish specific operational tasks and/or increase autonomous performance. The command-and-control (C2) communication architecture provides situational awareness and mission progress monitoring for the onboard vehicle decision-making, as well as the remote operator control station. To successfully achieve the high level of autonomous operations in locations without terrestrial communications (cellular) and beyond visual line of sight, UxS use satellite communications for navigation and mission data transfer. Our testing is evaluating the ability of the autonomous systems to accomplish multiple missions, including perimeter security, tracking of other surface vehicles, environmental monitoring, and marine science missions. These evaluations include the performance of the vehicles, the sensors, and the multi-domain communication systems, while characterizing the operating conditions for each test series. “Autonomy” is a capability that means different things to different people. Our testing at the MRC is evaluating the ability of the system to react to new information, whether from external source or self-perceived, to accomplish the intended mission, such as detection of an unknown vehicle in the area. This ability to react includes concepts such as dynamic replanning for navigation, as well as communications with the operations center for mission management awareness. Through these communications and activities, we are measuring the operator workloads in multiple missions to determine if the autonomy in the system is increasing, decreasing, or improving operator performance. Our testing team was assembled specifically to accomplish these objectives. The full technical paper will include sample test cases and data collection examples for evaluating the Ocean Aero autonomous underwater and surface vehicle technologies using the Cherokee Nation Capabilities-Based Assessment process. This is the proven, repeatable process that we have used for evaluating air, ground, and maritime unmanned systems for many customers. We use this process for assessing the operational performance of mature products, not research-only test units. This focus on technologies that are commercially available or at least products from an active production line, allow us to evaluate capabilities as they relate to mission requirements and user objectives. We have the team with the experience, the equipment, the facilities, and the dedication to advance the expectations of what is possible for unmanned maritime systems. This paper covers the process for achieving that advancement, including identifying the challenges such as evaluating autonomous capabilities and operating in live environments.