S² BHCA—Multiple AUVs cooperation oriented control architecture

Abstract

Oceanographic survey, or other similar applications should be the applications of multiple AUVs. In this paper, the skill & simulation based hybrid control architecture (S²BHCA) as the controller's design reference was proposed. It is a multi-robot cooperation oriented intelligent control architecture based on hybrid ideas. The S²BHCA attempts to incorporate the virtues of the reactive controller and of the deliberative controller by introducing the concept of the “skill”. The additional online task simulation ability for cooperation is supported, too. As an application, a multiple AUV control system was developed with three “skills” for the MCM mission including two different cooperative tasks. The simulation and the sea trials show that simple task expression, fast reaction and better cooperation support can be achieved by realizing the AUV controller based on the S²BHCA.

Keywords

autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) / cooperation / control architecture