MinAu Planning System

The MinAu Planning System is an advanced multi-vehicle mission planning, scheduling, and response system for the maritime environment that incorporates initial automated route planning and sensor tasking with autonomous onboard response systems. Orbit Logic and the Research and Engineering Center for Unmanned Vehicles (RECUV) at the University of Colorado integrated COTS software with current unmanned-systems research to build an architecture capable of supporting cooperative operations for groups of assets with varied capabilities and sensors, including a data-sharing solution enabling efficient communication between assets while respecting each asset’s onboard capabilities.

MinAu addresses mission planning for autonomous, cooperative, multi-vehicle systems operating in dynamic environments by combining comprehensive up-front mission planning with onboard autonomous response capabilities. Initial planning generates collection route plans and schedules for all assets, while the onboard Autonomous Planning System (APS) enables reactions to new information or adverse conditions such as water currents or degraded communications, including coordination with other assets to assist with a planned response. MinAu has been integrated with the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific’s (NIWC-PAC) SeaRover UUVs, including the Heterogeneous Autonomous Mobile Maritime Expeditionary Robots (HAMMER) system for collaborative ocean floor bottom mapping using UUVs, a USV surface craft mothership, and a rotorcraft UAV data ferry, as well as collaborative patrol/detect/track missions.