An autonomous undersea surveillance vehicle: concept and operational feasibility

Abstract

The concept of autonomous undersea vehicles (AUVs) is becoming feasible through the increasing practicality of artificial intelligence, decreasing size and cost of computers, and improved technical capabilities. This paper proposes a self-controlled undersea unmanned vehicle for anti-submarine

surveillance. Given is a functional description of the vehicle, a specification of control logic, and a

concept of operation. The effectiveness of this autonomous undersea surveillance vehicle (AUSV) is analyzed, yielding further specification as related to detection probabilities. The AUSV is shown to be practical from an operational research viewpoint. It is suggested that the AUSV be examined further from the physical, engineering, and economic viewpoints. Appendices include a dynamic enhancement table (relative speed of two randomly moving vehicles) and a documentation of some arguments on the numerous small vs few large combatant controversy.