The Autonomous Maritime Navigation (AMN) Project: Field Tests, Autonomous and Cooperative Behaviors, Data Fusion, Sensors, and Vehicles

Many small boat operations can be considered in the categories of "dull, dirty, or dangerous" jobs that are appropriate for automation. Dull jobs include long-range missions or surveillance tasks that can cause physical or mental fatigue in the crew. In addition, operational considerations may limit a human operator's time, such as exposure to heat or cold or union rules on maximum hours per day or job. The marine environment can be a dirty one as well, with wind-driven salt spray damaging unprotected eyes. And military operations such as riverine patrol or interception of potentially hostile craft can be dangerous for a human crew. Robotic systems allowing autonomous small boat operations can be a good match by providing rugged systems that keep sailors out of harm's way and also display "digital acuity" in that their sensors will be as efficient in their first hour of patrolling as in their last. This paper describes work done to build and test an autonomy system allowing several different boats to perform significant missions both by themselves and in cooperative modes. (c) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.