NNA: Collaborative Research: Navigating the New Arctic; Advanced Technology for Persistent, Long-Range, Autonomous Under-Ice Observation

NNA：合作研究：航行新北极；

• 批准号: 1837646
• 负责人: Brian Williams
• 金额: $ 6.5万
• 依托单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-08-01 至 2023-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1837646&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NNA; Collaborative; Research; Navigating; New

This project advances the national health, prosperity, and welfare by developing and demonstrating a new robotic technology for persistent, autonomous observation of under-ice marine environments over large (1000 km) spatial scales. The Arctic is undergoing rapid change, with dramatic shifts in the sea ice cover and upper ocean. Monitoring and understanding these changes is critical to improving our ability to predict ongoing change and variability on seasonal to decadal timescales. Current observational capabilities are severely hampered by the logistical challenges of operating in this environment - observations are sparse, infrequent, and expensive to obtain, especially for the under sea ice observations. As a low-cost, easy to deploy platform, the unmanned underwater vehicle developed by this project will be transformative in our capability for effective widespread and continuous monitoring of the Arctic Ocean and its ice cover. Under-ice missions to monitor ice-ocean properties across a retreating ice edge in spring will provide a proof of concept for a unique capability to efficiently address a wide range of scientific questions under the Arctic ice cover that can benefit from measurements over large spatial and temporal scales. This project supports the NSF Big Idea on Navigating the New Arctic. As a future component of an Arctic Observing Network, this innovative technology can provide a critical cog in our ability to effectively monitor the Arctic and inform management of increased Arctic commercial, mineral extraction, and fisheries activities, as well as planning for resilience of Arctic coastal communities.This project will develop and demonstrate a highly modified autonomous underwater glider (AUG) equipped with a dual-use active sonar for characterizing ice thickness distribution, as well as for real-time terrain-aided navigation. This will enable under-ice observation across extended distances without the need for external navigation aids such as acoustic beacons. The AUG will also encompass an automated mission planner/replanner wherein the vehicle can autonomously adapt its mission plan in response to evolving mission goals and environmental or vehicle state changes, such as data-driven adaptive sampling, changing surfacing locations based on ice drift, or in the event of a component failure impeding vehicle progress and decreasing expected range. Finally, a new variable thrust hybrid propulsion system will be developed for operation in both shallow coastal waters with high currents and deeper waters, enabling efficient transit from coastal to remote science locations, while enabling the vehicle to conduct water column profiling, as well as close-range ice survey. These characteristics will facilitate long-term unattended under-ice observation with reduced cost and logistical requirements.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目通过开发和展示一种新的机器人技术来促进国家健康，繁荣和福利，以持续，自主观察到大型（1000公里）的空间尺度上的冰下海洋环境。北极正在迅速发生变化，海冰盖和上海的急剧变化。监视和理解这些变化对于提高我们预测季节性季节性变化和变异性变化的能力至关重要。当前的观察能力严重阻碍了在这种环境下操作的后勤挑战 - 观察稀疏，罕见且获得昂贵，尤其是对于下海冰的观察。作为一个低成本，易于部署的平台，该项目开发的无人管理的水下车将是我们有效的广泛和连续监测北极海洋及其冰盖的能力的变革。在春季撤退的冰边缘监视冰山属性的冰底漆底漆任务将提供概念证明，以便具有独特的能力，可以有效解决北极冰盖下的广泛科学问题，这可以从大型空间和大空间和时间尺度。该项目支持NSF关于浏览新北极的大想法。作为北极观察网络的未来组成部分，这项创新技术可以为我们有效监测北极的能力提供关键的齿轮，并告知北极商业，矿物质提取和渔业活动的增加，并计划北极沿海地区的应变能力社区。该项目将开发并展示配备双重用途的积极声纳的高度修改的自主水下滑翔机（AUG），用于表征冰厚度分布以及实​​时地形辅助导航。这将使不需要外部导航辅助设备（例如声学信标）跨距离进行冰底面观察。 AUG还将涵盖自动任务策划者/重新启动器，其中，车辆可以自主对其任务计划进行自主调整，以响应不断发展的任务目标以及环境或车辆状态变化，例如数据驱动的自适应采样，基于ICE漂移而改变面角位置，或如果发生组件故障阻碍车辆进步并减少预期范围。最后，将开发一个新的变量巨型推进系统，用于在具有高水流和更深水域的浅沿海水域进行操作，从而有效地从沿海科学到偏远的科学地点，同时使车辆能够进行水柱分析，并靠近 - 范围冰调查。这些特征将促进长期无人看管的未注视观察，并降低成本和后勤要求。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛影响的评估标准来通过评估来支持的。