Autonomy algorithms for adaptive control of unmanned marine vehicles

Several trends are changing how unmanned marine vehicles are used by marine scientists.  Lower cost/performance ratio means these systems are no longer exclusive to larger organizations. The vehicles themselves are smaller, easier to use, and deploying them no longer requires access to an expensive research vessel. Acoustic communication in the sub-surface domain opens the door for collaboration between vehicles to observe larger areas in less time, and to use multiple vehicles to sense phenomena not easily sensed with a single vehicle. These trends present a research challenge in the autonomy algorithms needed to reach the potential of unmanned marine systems. The challenge concerns the algorithms themselves, which need to accommodate the collaborative, adaptive, long-term missions of ocean observation. It also concerns the nature in which autonomy is developed across the rapidly growing and distributed science community putting these systems to work.