Collaborative Research: Ideas Lab: ETAUS Meshed Observations of THE Remote Subsurface with Heterogeneous Intelligent Platforms (MOTHERSHIP)

合作研究：创意实验室：ETAUS 通过异构智能平台对远程地下进行网格观测 (MOTHERSHIP)

• 批准号: 2322059
• 负责人: Atsuhiro Muto
• 金额: $ 3.53万
• 依托单位: Temple University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-15 至 2026-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2322059&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Ideas; Lab; ETAUS

Melting of ice shelves by warm ocean waters destabilizes glaciers, enhancing ice flow into the ocean and contributing to global sea level rise. Measurements of ocean properties under ice shelves are needed to improve global predictions of sea level rise and to anticipate its societal consequences. Such measurements, however, are challenging to obtain. In this Ideas Lab: Engineering Technologies to Advance Underwater Sciences (ETAUS) project, a proof-of-concept mothership-and-passenger system will be developed to permit the future deployment of a highly capable, autonomous underwater vehicle (the mothership), programmed to travel as far as safely possible under ice shelves to release a swarm of novel, low-cost passenger robots that will coordinate to explore further into the ice cavity. The hardware prototypes, networked communication systems and protocols, and coordination algorithms developed as part of this project’s mothership-and-passenger system will help advance the field of underwater exploration in confined and hard-to-reach environments. The project will also foster the training of future scientists and engineers by engaging youths from small fishing communities in Oregon through presentations at Oregon’s MATE ROV Regional Competition, by employing high-school interns through the Apprenticeships in Science and Engineering (ASE) Summer Academy Program, and by training multiple undergraduate and graduate students at participating institutions.The goal of this project is to develop a mothership-and-passenger sampling system to reach difficult-to-access glacier grounding zones via the open ocean to measure the extent of ice cavities and surrounding water properties. The project will innovate along three main areas of inquiry: 1) passenger robot design, 2) acoustic communication protocols and hardware, and 3) mothership-and-passenger coordination algorithms. Novel, low-cost passenger robots will be conceived that can switch through different operation modes to optimize maneuverability, power consumption, or a combination of both, as needed for various tasks throughout a deployment. Acoustic communication protocols and hardware will be developed to prioritize robust communication between passenger robots over throughput and permit swarm self-localization by utilizing time-of-flight and angle-of-arrival between passengers to estimate relative positions. Swarm coordination algorithms will be designed to estimate flow direction and strength from the passenger robots’ relative positions to optimize navigation and power consumption. The performance of the network will be tested in increasingly challenging environments, i.e., tests will be conducted in a pool, an unfrozen lake, and finally in a frozen lake, while network capabilities with a larger swarm will be modeled to ensure the scalability of the system to ocean deployments. Finally, the software developed for the mothership-and-passenger communication and self-localization protocols will be generalizable and made available open-source to allow other research teams to adapt the system to their own needs. The mothership-and-passenger sampling system will not only advance under-ice-observation capabilities but also have wider oceanographic applications such as detection and monitoring of underwater harmful algal blooms or anoxic events threatening fisheries.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.

温暖的海水融化冰架会破坏冰川的稳定性，增加冰流入海洋并导致全球海平面上升，以改善全球对海平面上升的预测并预测其社会后果。然而，在这个想法实验室：推进水下科学的工程技术（ETAUS）项目中，将开发一个概念验证的母船和乘客系统，以允许未来部署一个高性能的、自主水下航行器（母舰）被编程为在冰架下尽可能安全地行驶，释放一群新颖的低成本乘客机器人，这些机器人将协调进一步探索冰腔的硬件原型、网络通信系统和协议。作为该项目的母舰和乘客系统的一部分开发的协调算法将有助于推进狭窄和难以到达的环境中的水下探索领域。该项目还将通过吸引来自世界各地的年轻人来促进对未来科学家和工程师的培训。俄勒冈州的小型渔业社区通过在俄勒冈州 MATE ROV 区域竞赛中的演讲、通过科学与工程学徒 (ASE) 夏季学院计划聘用高中实习生以及在参与机构培训多名本科生和研究生。该项目的目标是开发母船和乘客采样系统，通过公海到达难以进入的冰川接地区域，测量冰洞的范围和周围的水特性，该项目将在三个主要研究领域进行创新：1）机器人设计，2) 声学通信协议和硬件，以及 3) 母舰与乘客协调算法将被设想，可以切换不同的乘客操作模式，以优化机动性、功耗或组合。根据整个部署过程中各种任务的需要，将开发声学通信协议和硬件，以优先考虑乘客机器人之间的稳健通信而不是吞吐量，并通过利用乘客之间的飞行时间和到达角度来允许群体自我定位。到估计相对位置。群体协调算法将被设计为根据乘客机器人的相对位置估计流动方向和强度，以优化导航和功耗。网络的性能将在日益具有挑战性的环境中进行测试。一个水池，一个未结冰的湖，最后是一个结冰的湖，同时将对具有更大群的网络功能进行建模，以确保系统在海洋部署中的可扩展性。最后，为母舰和乘客通信和开发的软件。自定位协议将是可推广的并开源，以便其他研究团队能够根据自己的需求调整该系统，母舰和乘客采样系统不仅将提高冰下观测能力，而且还将具有更广泛的海洋学能力。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。