ONR: Cross-domain cooperative control for bistatic underwater laser imaging

Faculty

Derek A. Paley

Funding Agency

Office of Naval Research

Year

2021

Descriptions

Maryland Robotics Center Director Derek Paley (AE/ISR) is the principal investigator for a three-year, $160,000 Office of Naval Research award, “Cross-domain cooperative control for bistatic underwater laser imaging.”

The project will enable autonomous underwater 3D mapping using underwater laser imaging, with the transmitter, target and receiver at separate (bistatic) locations. It will apply tools from flight dynamics and control, multi-vehicle control, and the science of autonomy to solve the problem of cross-domain cooperative control.

Paley’s team will design a flight vehicle that can autonomously carry electro-optical receiver/decoder instrumentation. Onboard guidance, navigation and control algorithms will enable this vehicle to collaborate with an underwater platform equipped with a laser-illuminator.

The collaborative control and imaging strategy will be implemented and tested, first at the University of Maryland’s Neutral Buoyancy Research Facility, and afterwards at Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division facilities.