ALGORITHM FOR MANEUVERING AN AUTONOMOUS UNDERWATER VEHICLE WHEN NAVIGATING A SHIP THROUGH A MINED AREA
Abstract
One of the tasks assigned to the autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) is the fight
against mine danger, which includes: 1) search for and destroy mines in the mined area;
2) ensure their own safety when passing through the mined area or when working in this area;
3) ensure the navigation of ships (including submarines) through the mined area. AUV can be
considered as a further development of mine-fighting equipment, since they have a number of
advantages over mine-fighting ships: 1) exclude the loss of life in the event of a mine explosion;
2) have a lower level of physical fields to which the fuses of sea mines react; 3) are able to maneuver
at the optimal depth for searching and classifying mines. In view of this, the creation of
specialized AUV to combat the mine danger is very important. The search for mines with the
help of AUV can be carried out either in the interests of their destruction (clearing the area) or
for the purpose of guiding ships through the mined area. This article deals with the second
problem. The description of the maneuvering algorithm of the AUV when ensuring the passage
of a vessel through a mined area is given. The task is solved by detecting different types of
mines using hydroacoustic and magnetometric means of searching and classifying underwater
objects and bypassing of the mines at a safe distance. To reduce the time required to solve the
task, the detected underwater objects are classified into the "mine-like object" and "other objects"
classes. The use of the "mine-like object" class, which includes both the actual mines and
objects that are indistinguishable from mines at the distances of their detection by means of
mine search, allows you to avoid approaching detected underwater objects at a distance of their
confident classification using high-frequency sonar and television equipment, and thereby increase
the safety of the AUV and reduce the time of passage through the mined area. The algorithm
takes into account the fact that the minimum safe distance between vessel and mine greatly
exceeds the range of detection of mines of different types that does not allow AUV to find a
safe vessel passage through the mined area by a single crossing and requires complex maneuvering
of the AUV. Algorithm is intended for implementation in the AUV control system.
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