Page 44 - GCN, Oct/Nov 2017

ROBOTICS, AUTOMATION AN
Category Winner
A deep dive into solving autonomous navigation challenges
Sea Hunter
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Department of Defense
T here are some notable chal- lenges that an autonomous sys- tem faces in the ocean: waves,
wind and the lack of lane markings. In developing Sea Hunter, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency worked with Leidos to solve those problems.
Sea Hunter is a three-hulled, 132-foot-long boat that can operate on its own to find enemy submarines or mines. It is monitored via an ISO container on land.
“You can move that 20-foot con- tainer anywhere in the world and it wouldn’t know the difference,” Rus Cook, a senior program manager at Leidos, told GCN.
The vessel relies on algorithms to help it see other sea traffic and fol- low the rules of the ocean, known as International Regulations for Prevent- ing Collisions at Sea. COLREGs are a hurdle that autonomous systems must clear to make it into the maritime environment, Cook said. For example, if two ships are heading toward each other, there are rules for which one
gives way and which one maintains its course.
Some of Sea Hunter’s autonomous ability is based on technology that NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory developed for the Mars Exploration Rover mission. Cook said Sea Hunter can tell if another vessel is failing
to comply with COLREGs and can change direction to avoid a collision at distances of half a kilometer. He added that other companies that claim to fol- low COLREGs wait too long to change course, and one said it course- corrected at 10 meters.
“Ten meters is way too close,” Cook said. “Ten meters is a near collision, and you’ve scared someone to death.”
Sea Hunter was developed in 2014 to address the need to track electric submarines and to do so at a frac- tion of the cost of a guided missile destroyer. There is currently only
one Sea Hunter, and it is undergoing COLREGs testing off the coast of San Diego with the help of researchers from Johns Hopkins University’s Ap- plied Physics Lab. Leidos is in negotia-
tions with the Navy to build a second vessel.
A couple of payloads have been tested onboard Sea Hunter, including a mine countermeasure system and a kite that can carry camera equipment and radar.
Finalist
Teaching drones to organize themselves
Fast Lightweight Autonomy
and Service Academies Swarm Challenge Program
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Department of Defense
Unmanned aerial vehicles have been conducting military reconnaissance, surveillance and attack missions for more than a decade. But drones are generally guided by a human operator and don’t work in coordination with one another, as a fighter squadron might during a dogfight.
44 GCN OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2017 • GCN.COM
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