High-bandwidth acoustic data communication for stand-off identification by autonomous underwater vehicles
conference paper
Stand-off mine countermeasure (MCM) operations
with unmanned systems frequently require user involvement
for the interpretation of image data, for classification and
identification, and for decision-making during mine disposal.
As the transfer of image data usually requires tethering, this leads
to cumbersome operating procedures. We have demonstrated a
high-bandwidth and quality-of-service (QoS) enabled acoustic
data link for communication of live images and meta data
from untethered underwater systems to an operator. Novel is
the application of QoS diversity principles to the transmission
of single messages with both live MCM image data and meta
data to operators using wireless acoustic communication signals.
The meta data, being high-priority low-volume data such as the
system’s position, course and speed, as well as object classification/
localization results, are communicated with high reliability
on top of the image data that itself may allow some errors (e.g.,
bad pixels) to remain useful for the operator. For demonstration
of the concept, we have full control over an autonomous underwater
vehicle (AUV), its sensor processing unit and software-defined
modem, where the latter includes a 21 kHz bandwidth transducer
(carrier @31.5 kHz). The described capability was successfully
demonstrated at the NATO REP(MUS) 2021 exercise (Portugal)
using an AUV with an optical camera and a side-scan sonar.
with unmanned systems frequently require user involvement
for the interpretation of image data, for classification and
identification, and for decision-making during mine disposal.
As the transfer of image data usually requires tethering, this leads
to cumbersome operating procedures. We have demonstrated a
high-bandwidth and quality-of-service (QoS) enabled acoustic
data link for communication of live images and meta data
from untethered underwater systems to an operator. Novel is
the application of QoS diversity principles to the transmission
of single messages with both live MCM image data and meta
data to operators using wireless acoustic communication signals.
The meta data, being high-priority low-volume data such as the
system’s position, course and speed, as well as object classification/
localization results, are communicated with high reliability
on top of the image data that itself may allow some errors (e.g.,
bad pixels) to remain useful for the operator. For demonstration
of the concept, we have full control over an autonomous underwater
vehicle (AUV), its sensor processing unit and software-defined
modem, where the latter includes a 21 kHz bandwidth transducer
(carrier @31.5 kHz). The described capability was successfully
demonstrated at the NATO REP(MUS) 2021 exercise (Portugal)
using an AUV with an optical camera and a side-scan sonar.
Topics
TNO Identifier
980949
Publisher
IEEE
Source title
OCEANS 2022, Hampton Roads, 2022
Pages
1-10
Files
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