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From: brutzman@cs.nps.navy.mil (Don Brutzman)
Subject: AUV 94 video abstracts
Message-ID: <Ct1wMI.L9w@taurus.cs.nps.navy.mil>
Sender: news@taurus.cs.nps.navy.mil
Organization: Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey
Date: Sat, 16 Jul 1994 20:51:53 GMT
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        Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers
         (IEEE) Oceanic Engineering Society Symposium

           AUTONOMOUS UNDERWATER VEHICLES (AUV) 94


                      Video Proceedings


                  Cambridge, Massachusetts
                      July 19-20, 1994


                     Symposium Chairman
                       Claude Brancart
             Charles Stark Draper Laboratories
                Cambridge, Massachusetts USA

                 Video Proceedings Editor
                       Don Brutzman
                Naval Postgraduate School
                 Monterey, California USA


  01:30   Welcome:  Claude Brancart

  02:40   ARPA Mine Search System Final Report

  09:05   Vortex Unmanned Underwater Vehicle

  14:30   NPS AUV Posture Control and Virtual World

  26:15   ROBY 2:  A Virtual AUV Prototype

  33:55   Visual Control of OTTER

  42:55   Pteroa 150 Sea Trials

  52:05   Explosive Ordnance Disposal AUV Work Package

  57:15   Multi-Vehicle Operation using Homogenous AUVs

1:02:00   Odyssey II Arctic Under-Ice Operations

1:06:30   MBone:  Audio/Video Internet Tools

1:25:05   ARPA Simulation-Based Design

1:35:10   Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary

1:40:10   MARIUS AUV

1:48:50   closing credits


          Biggest Thanks:  the contributors!

                Theme:  "Terra Nova"
                 LT John Roesli USN
             Naval Postgraduate School

                     Production
                   Robert Franco
               Endorphin Productions
                   PO Box 222242
              Carmel California 93922
                  (408) 372-2308

                     Inquiries
                   Don Brutzman
                    Code OR/Br
             Naval Postgraduate School
        Monterey, California 93943-5000 USA
      (408) 656-2149 work, (408) 656-2595 fax
               brutzman@nps.navy.mil



             ARPA/Navy Mine Search System (MSS)

                   CAPT Alan R. Beam USN
                    UUV Program Manager
            Maritime Systems Technology Office
             Advanced Research Projects Agency
            4301 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 700
               Arlington, Virginia 22203 USA
          (703) 516-6000 work, (703) 516-6060 fax

             Charles Stark Draper Laboratories
              Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

        In March 1993, the Maritime Systems Technology Office
successfully completed a series of at-sea tests that demonstrated the
Mine Search System (MSS), a prototype Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV)
minehunting system.  In these demonstrations, a ship with the UUV in the
lead repeatedly made safe transits through deep and shallow mine fields.
During these transits, bottom mines undetectable by ship-mounted sensors
were readily detected by the UUV sensors optimally positioned with
respect to the target mines.  In another series of tests, the same UUV
operating autonomously demonstrated its ability to conduct a minefield
survey and relay the mine location data to the manned platform.

         These demonstrations clearly showed for the first time the
value of UUV sensors in a mine countermeasures role.  The performance
data gathered and the lessons learned from the MSS Program will be used
by the Navy to support acquisition and system evaluation decisions.


           Vortex Unmanned Underwater Vehicle

        Eve Coste-Manire (*), Alexis Peuch (**),
        Vincent Rigaud (**), Michel Perrier (**),
      Daniel Simon (*), Roger Pissard-Gibollet (*)
     (*)  INRIA BP 93 06902 Sophia-Antipolis Cedex
     (**) IFREMER Centre de Toulon BP 330 83507,
             La Seyne sur Mer Cedex FRANCE
      e-mail: eve,dsimon,pissard@sophia.inria.fr
      e-mail: peuch,rigaud,mperrier@ifremer.fr

     This video presents the experimental vehicle named V.O.R.T.EX:
Versatile and Open subsea Robot for Technical EXperiment. VORTEX is a
testbed platform for subsea robotics applications designed and developed
by the Subsea Robotics Laboratory at IFREMER.  The main objective of the
works developed around this vehicle is to build a Remotely Operated
Vehicle with all the functions and the characteristics of an Autonomous
Underwater Vehicle in terms of control and mission programming.

     In this video we illustrate hardware architecture, control software
design and human-machine interface design.  A global presentation of the
vehicle and of its different components including sensing and actuation
equipment is provided.  Then the vehicle control system and (more
precisely) the chosen approach to high level mission programming are
described.  It involves the ORCCAD (INRIA, Projet Icare) and PIRAT
(Ifremer, R.I.A Lab) robot programming systems aimed to control reactive
robots. Both rely on a three-level architecture and are based upon an
object-oriented approach in order to enforce software reuse and
reliability.

     Robot actions are modeled using a ROBOT-TASK-like concept
introduced at INRIA, merging a control law and a logical reactive
behaviour.  At the mission level, these elementary actions are switched
upon reception of meaningful events in order to perform a given mission.
The ESTEREL synchronous language is used at this level. The mission
automaton produced at compile time is in charge of the scheduling of
these various actions.  Formal verification about the logical behaviour
of the control programs can be performed on the produced automaton.

     A typical and simple example of mission is performed by the vehicle
in our experimental pool:  the "round-the-pool" mission illustrates all
our chosen concepts.


          NPS AUV Posture Control and Virtual World

            A.J. Healey, D.B. Marco, R.B. McGhee,
        D.P. Brutzman, R. Cristi and F.A. Papoulias
                   Code ME/Hy, Code OR/Br
                 Naval Postgraduate School
            Monterey, California 93943-5000 USA
         (408) 656-3462 voice, (408) 656-2238 fax
         a.healey@ieee.org, brutzman@nps.navy.mil

                     Posture Control

        Recent work with the NPS AUV II demonstrates further development
of the execution level software to incorporate hover control behavior in
the NPS hover tank.  Of particular interest is the use of the ST 100 and
ST 725 high frequency sonars to provide data about the environment. Thus
positioning can be accomplished without the use of beacons.

        Motion behaviors may be instituted that include diving and pitch
control under thruster power, heading control at zero speed, lateral and
longitudinal positioning, as well as the automatic initiation of filters
as needed when a new target is found.  A simple task level language is
developed that will be used to direct tactical level output to a port
which communicates with execution level software.

                     Virtual World

        A critical bottleneck exists in Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
(AUV) design and development. It is tremendously difficult to observe,
communicate with and test underwater robots, because they operate in a
remote and hazardous environment where physical dynamics and sensing
modalities are counterintuitive.

       An underwater virtual world can comprehensively model all salient
functional characteristics of the real world in real time.  This virtual
world is designed from the perspective of the robot, enabling realistic
AUV evaluation and testing in the laboratory.  3D real-time graphics are
our window into that virtual world.  Visualization of robot interactions
within a virtual world permits sophisticated analyses of robot
performance that are otherwise unavailable.  Sonar visualization permits
researchers to accurately "look over the robot's shoulder" or even "see
through the robot's eyes" to intuitively understand sensor-environment
interactions.

      Distribution of underwater virtual world components enables
scalability and real-time response.  The IEEE Distributed Interactive
Simulation (DIS) protocol is used for compatible live interaction with
other virtual worlds.  Network access allows individuals remote
observation. Mosaic and the World Wide Web provides open access to
archived images, papers, datasets, software, sound clips, text and any
other computer-storable media.  This project presents the frontier of
3D real-time graphics for underwater robotics, ocean exploration, sonar
visualization and worldwide scientific collaboration.


                ROBY 2:  A Virtual AUV Prototype

          Gianmarco Veruggio, R. Bono, Massimo Caccia
               Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
                Istituto per l'Automazione Navale
                Via de Marini, 6 - GENOVA - Italy
          +39-10-6475-616 voice, +39-10-6475-600 fax
      gian@ian.ge.cnr.it, max@ian.ge.cnr.it (Massimo Caccia)

      The Underwater Robotics Project aims to develop an Autonomous
Underwater Vehicle for research purposes.  ROBY 2, a prototype of a
virtual AUV, was tested in a swimming pool.  This video presents a
proposed Software Architecture for a generic AUV.

      Test activities were carried out at IAN in 1993.  These consist of
identification of ROBY 2, simulation of control algorithms, sensor
filtering, control tests in a swimming pool, and developing a
semi-automatic control console.


       Experiments in Visual Control with OTTER

    Richard Marks, rlmarks@sun-valley.stanford.edu
    Stephen M. Rock, rock@sun-valley.stanford.edu
    Howard H. Wang, lazarus@sun-valley.stanford.edu

       Aerospace Robotics Laboratory (ARL)
               Stanford University
      017 Durand Bldg., Stanford, CA  94305

         Michael J. Lee, lemi@mbari.org
  Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI)
     160 Central Ave., Pacific Grove, CA  93950

        In this video we present experimental results in using optical
vision sensors to control an unmanned underwater vehicle.  The OTTER
(Ocean Technologies Testbed for Engineering Research) vehicle is 2 m
long and 1 m wide.  It displaces 145 kg and is constructed using
aluminum pressure housings, steel frames, and a composite shell.  The
video shows the OTTER vehicle with and without the shell operating in a
test tank at MBARI's Moss Landing facility.

        The real-time vision system consists of a black & white ccd
stereo camera pair mounted on a custom pan/tilt mechanism, and VME
hardware for vision processing.  Filter and correlation boards from
Teleos Research and video digitizing boards from Datacube are used to
measure feature displacement between two frames of video. Filtering of
the video image provides robustness to video noise such as changes in
ambient lighting or the presence of marine snow.  Object range and
velocity or vehicle motion can be measured using correlation.

        With feedback from the vision system, closed-loop, automatic
control of the vehicle can be achieved.  By storing a frame of video, we
can control the vehicle to hold position with respect to the stored
frame by measuring the displacement of the current image from the
initial image. In the video, we can see that even with large
disturbances the vehicle/pan-tilt system is capable of holding the live
image still with respect to the vehicle.  This capability can be used
for station keeping relative to fixed objects or the ocean floor.

       Multiple image mosaics of ocean geographical features can be
created automatically from individual video frames.  The vision system
provides a trajectory based on stored video frames for the vehicle to
follow in order to create the mosaic.  In the video, OTTER is shown
automatically creating a mosaic in real time from 60 individual
images.


                 Pteroa 150 Sea Trials

                       Tamaki Ura
            Institute of Industrial Science
                  University of Tokyo
        7-22-1, Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo 106 Japan
       +81-3-3402-6231 voice, +81-3-3401-6259 fax
                 ura@iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp

       The PTEROA 150 is an unmanned untethered submersible  constructed
by the University of Tokyo in 1989.  The first sea trial was
successfully carried out in November, 1990. The objective of
construction of the PTEROA 150 is to present a prototype vehicle of
cruising type, and to initiate research on technology for autonomous
underwater robots.

       This video shows how we carried out sea trials in December, 1992.
By this trial, we demonstrated the capability of constant altitude
swimming of the PTEROA 150.

       The PTEROA 150 dives based on the program installed in its
computer.  The PTEROA 150 does not depend on remote teleoperation from
the mother-ship.  This is our basic vehicle design philosophy:  vehicles
should decide their attitude by themselves.


       Explosive Ordnance Disposal AUV Work Package

                     Gary Trimble
         Lockheed Missiles and Space Company
          Sunnyvale California 94088-3504
         trimble@lams.msd.lmsc.lockheed.com

        The  Explosive Ordnance Disposal Remote Work Packages (EODRWP)
Program (N00174-C-92-0074) is developing advanced untethered Unmanned
Underwater Vehicle (UUV) technologies including sensor suites, signal
processing, and vehicle management approaches which support acquisition
sensor data for the autonomous detection, localization, and
classification of underwater ordnance.

        Autonomous closed loop control, enhanced acoustic navigation,
high frequency sonar-based target detection and localization, and an
"intelligent"computer-based mission controller has been developed,
integrated, and ocean tested.  The program focuses on applied signal
processing with an emphasis on the reconstruction and extraction of
features from sonar images. This includes the incorporation of motion
compensation and registration of target features as well as some of the
basic detection methods (shape and size evaluation, intensity, shadow
analysis).

        An embedded massively-parallel computer applies methodologies
capable of dynamically correcting image data based on vehicle motion
information.  This computer applies image processing algorithms to
derive feature and signal information that is used in the classification
of the object of interest.  The classification methodologies applied
include statistical, evidential, heuristic, and neural.

        To increase the probability of classification based on target
features, a dynamic capability which integrates optimal classification
aspect is incorporated into the approach.  Under the supervision and
constraints of the intelligent mission controller, the vehicle
dynamically repositions the sensors based on the current classification
details available and a priori target feature information.  As the new
aspect is achieved, potentially unique features and characteristics are
introduced until verification is attained or system constraints are
exceeded.

       The EODRWP has been developed as a vehicle independent "work
package" and is currently implemented on a tethered Remotely Operated
Vehicle (ROV) which is employed as a testbed.  The video details the
first year's efforts in the development of the Work Package and its
implementation on the testbed.


       Multi-Vehicle Operation using Homogeneous AUVs

         Yoji Kuroda, Tamaki Ura, and Koji Aramaki
       URA Laboratory, Institute of Industrial Science,
                     University of Tokyo
        7-22-1, Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106 Japan
        +81-3-3402-6231 voice, +81-3-3479-4017 fax
                   kuroda@iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp

       Multiple vehicle operation using homogeneous autonomous
underwater vehicles is a new paradigm for deep ocean activity such as
wide area search and exploration.   To carry out an efficient search
mission, we introduce a cooperative vehicle system in which formation
can be controlled easily according to the environmental conditions.


      Three-dimensional visual simulation is carried out using the
newly-developed real-time multi-vehicle simulator called the "MVS."  The
operator-intended group formation can emerge by defining each vehicle's
individual behavior without explicit definition of the group
formation.


        ODYSSEY II Arctic Under-Ice Operations

       J.G. Bellingham, C.A. Goudey, T.R. Consi,
        J.J. Leonard, D.K. Atwood, J. Vaganay,
          J.W. Bales and C. Chryssostomidis
           Underwater Vehicles Laboratory
            MIT Sea Grant College Program
                    292 Main Street
          Cambridge Massachusetts 02142 USA

      ODYSSEY II is a survey class autonomous underwater vehicle,
designed as an intelligent mobile instrument platform with deep-water
capability, and is the second of an "ODYSSEY" class of autonomous
underwater vehicles.  Comprised of a low-drag fairing with a single
propeller and cruciform control surfaces, ODYSSEY II is 2.2 meters long
and has a maximum diameter of 0.6 meters.  The fairing is free-flooded
and contains the main pressure housings, which are two glass spheres.
In the present configuration, the vehicle has an endurance of eight to
twelve hours, depending on the operating speed and the duty cycle of
subsystems such as the acoustic modem.

      In March 1994 ODYSSEY II was deployed from an ice camp in the
Beaufort Sea. All operations were carried out in a 15' by 15' tent,
enclosing a hydrohole through five feet of ice. While at the ice camp,
ODYSSEY II was repeated deployed and recovered through this hole.  The
AUV performed a series of "out and back" missions demonstrating its
ability to home into the recovery net.  Two of these missions are shown
in the video tape.   To provide the vehicle with a homing capability, a
commercial USBL system (ORE LXT) was used to measure both direction and
range to an acoustic beacon located in the center of a recovery net.

      Acoustic communication was demonstrated from the AUV to receivers
as far as 7 km away.  Tests were cut short after nine days when the ice
flow began to break up, forcing the evacuation of the camp.

      Acknowledgements:  This work was supported by the Office of Naval
Research under contract N00014-92-J-1287, the National Science
Foundation under contract number BCS-9311151, and the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology Sea Grant College Program under contract
NA90AA-D-SG424.


[From the editor:  Please note that the segments on MBone,
 Simulation-Based Design and Monterey Bay National Marine
 Sanctuary/diver-support AUV possibilities are not strictly AUV-related.
 They have nevertheless been included as a bonus due to their relevance
 to long-term possibilities for AUV research.  I hope you agree that
 their addition to this tape is worthwhile. Last-minute arrival of the
 MARIUS tape prevented sequencing it next to the other AUV segments.]


  MBone:  Audio/Video Internet Tools for International Collaboration

                            Don Brutzman
               Code OR/Br, Naval Postgraduate School
                Monterey, California 93943-5000 USA
             (408) 656-2149 voice, (408) 656-2595 fax
                        brutzman@nps.navy.mil

      Recently it has become possible to broadcast live audio and video
over the Internet using the Multicast Backbone (MBone).  This
development holds great promise as an enabling technology for
collaborative work among underwater vehicle researchers separated by
long distances.

     We hope to broadcast live sessions from AUV 94 to the world during
this conference.  In order to better permit conference attendees to
understand the strengths and weaknesses of this technology, a recording
of an MBone broadcast is provided.  This talk was originally presented
at the May 1994 International Advanced Robotics Programme (IARP), hosted
by Mike Lee and Bob McGhee at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research
Institute (MBARI).

     The talk itself describes technical considerations related to use
of the MBone, which is the virtual network used for these Internet
sessions.  Anyone with direct Internet connections, adequate bandwidth
and a workstation can receive multicast.  We hope to demonstrate that
worldwide collaboration among underwater robotics researchers is not
only feasible but even convenient.

     For more information on how to connect your lab to MBone, refer to
"MBone Provides Audio and Video Across the Internet" in the April 94
issue of IEEE COMPUTER, pp. 30-36. This article is also available for
electronic retrieval in PostScript, text, and hypertext versions:

    ftp://taurus.cs.nps.navy.mil/pub/mbmg/mbone.ps
    ftp://taurus.cs.nps.navy.mil/pub/mbmg/mbone.txt
    ftp://taurus.cs.nps.navy.mil/pub/mbmg/mbone.html


             ARPA Simulation-Based Design (SBD)

                        Gary W. Jones
            Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA)
           Maritime Systems Technology Office (MSTO)
                  3701 North Fairfax Drive
                   Arlington, VA 22203

       The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) is developing a
prototype of a tool that can enable a revolutionary change to the
acquisition process.  Simulation-Based Design (SBD) will integrate the
technologies of distributed simulation, physics-based modeling and
virtual environments. In ARPA's SBD program, development of these
technologies is focused beyond mere research to a real problem with
potential of great payoff for military and commercial industries.
The SBD system will:

   o  permit detailed evaluation of product and process designs early in
      the life cycle, reducing expensive surprises later during
      manufacturing and operational service;

   o  eliminate costly prototypes for both product and process designs;

   o  provide realistic operator interaction with the product during the
      requirement and design process;

   o  permit development of tactics and training in realistic
      operational scenarios with existing operational assets.

      Simulation-Based Design (SBD) will integrate computer and
information science technology developments such as advanced
visualization techniques, high band-width networks, human/computer
interaction, and massive database management to develop a revolutionary
design environment for the acquisition of complex systems.


               Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary


                        Stephen D. Loomis
                  Monterey Bay Video Productions
                  761 Lighthouse Avenue, Suite B
                    Monterey California 93940
                         (408) 655-3842

                           Bob Franco
                      Endorphin Productions
                         PO Box 222242
                    Carmel California 93922
                        (408) 372-2308

      As an avid scuba diver with over 2,000 logged dives and a
professional underwater videographer, I believe that there are various
applications for independent submersible craft when applied towards
scuba diving.

      Such a craft could be utilized as an emergency craft for the
stranded/injured diver.  As a mobile diving bell for operations that
require dry access while remaining deep.  A transporter of gear which
would free up the diver.  A backup air supply.  A craft which would
carry or tow a large compressed air transport, providing one or two
divers an extended supply of air.  A transport system that could be
placed aside then utilized to cover distances quickly.  A mobile
pneumatic lift that would enable a dive team to lift heavy objects to
the surface.  For limited visibility or night diving, a lighting system
and navigational system that would allow the diver to cover long
distances accurately despite questionable conditions.


          MARIUS:  An Autonomous Underwater Vehicle for
            Environmental Surveying in Coastal Waters

                         Antnio Pascoal
                Institute for Systems and Robotics
                    Instituto Superior Tcnico
          Av. Rovisco Pais, 1096 Lisboa Codex, Portugal
                    antonio@kappa.ist.utl.pt

          ISR/IST-FEUP - Portugal (Project Coordinator)
                     COWIconsult - Denmark
                     Thomson-ASM - France
                ORCA Instrumentation - France
                        RESON - Denmark
                         LIBM - France
           Danish Maritime Institute (DMI) - Denmark
                Technical University of Denmark
                        GEMO - Denmark
                 Geological Survey of Portugal
                        ISEL - Portugal

     MARIUS is an autonomous underwater vehicle for environmental
surveying in coastal waters.  The vehicle has been designed and built by
a multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers from Denmark,
France and Portugal.  The project started in March 1991.  It will end in
October 1995.

     The main goal of the project is to construct and field test an
autonomous mobile station for underwater inspection and environmental
data acquisition down to a depth of 600 meters. The vehicle underwent
hydrodynamic tank tests in January 1993 and March 1994 at the Danish
Maritime Institute in Lyngby, Denmark. Free-sailing tests in a
protected harbour were performed in Denmark in May 1994.  An intensive
programme of sea tests will be carried out in 1994 in Portugal, with the
objective of integrating the control, navigation and communication
systems.

     Future work will concentrate on implementing and testing the
Mission Management System for the vehicle.   A total of four test series
on the MARIUS vehicle were carried out at the Danish Maritime Institute:
open water tests of the propeller/nozzle system, resistance and
self-propulsion tests, Planar Motion Mechanism tests in the horizontal
plane, and Planar Motion Mechanism tests in the vertical plane.  The
experimental results obtained were used to identify a dynamic model for
the vehicle, built from physics first principles.  The resulting model
proved a valuable tool to design the control, navigation and guidance
algorithms.

     The first free-sailing tests of MARIUS were conducted in
Copenhagen.  The main objectives were to test the integration of the
propulsion and vehicle support systems, and to assess the
maneuverability of the vehicle.  During the test, the buoyancy of the
vehicle was kept slightly positive to keep it at the surface.  An
antenna extended upward from the top deck.  The vehicle was manually
controlled from a console located on shore.  By using a radio link,
control signals for the propellers and deflection surfaces were
transmitted to the vehicle.  Information on the state of the vehicle was
transmitted back to the operator.

     Zig-zag and diving maneuvers were performed.  The maneuverability
of MARIUS matched closely the performance expected from simulations with
the horizontal model.  Based on these tests, AUV MARIUS was judged to be
reasonably stable and easily maneuverable.

_________________________________________________________________________

This videotape abstracts booklet is available as
    ftp://taurus.cs.nps.navy.mil/pub/auv/auv94video.txt
    ftp://taurus.cs.nps.navy.mil/pub/auv/auv94video.ps.Z


