Prioritizing the capabilities of unmanned underwater vehicles necessary for ISR based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process

The need for unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) has received significant attention given the current security situation in the Korean Peninsula. UUVs are used in the military to perform five key missions: intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), mine countermeasures, anti-submarine warfare, inspection/identification, and oceanography. In this study, we analyze the standards of evaluation of the characteristics and capabilities of UUVs that are necessary for ISR missions, which are most important from among the above mentioned ones. First, we establish 5 main criteria and 15 sub-criteria by consulting a group of experts. Next, we use the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) for these criteria. It computes the relative weights of the criteria based on pairwise comparisons, in order to evaluate the relative importance and priorities of the criteria we established, by selecting another group of 51 experts for the evaluation of the pairwise comparisons among the criteria. Consequentially, the importance associated with performance and ability of the ISR tends to be relatively high while the one associated with cost and economy for operating the UUVs appears to be low. These results may be useful in analyzing required capabilities in a more objective and concrete manner while procuring UUVs in the future.

Multi-AUVs Cooperative Target Search Based on Autonomous Cooperative Search Learning Algorithm

As a new type of marine unmanned intelligent equipment, autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) has been widely used in the field of ocean observation, maritime rescue, mine countermeasures, intelligence reconnaissance, etc. Especially in the underwater search mission, the technical advantages of AUV are particularly obvious. However, limited operational capability and sophisticated mission environments are also difficulties faced by AUV. To make better use of AUV in the search mission, we establish the DMACSS (distributed multi-AUVs collaborative search system) and propose the ACSLA (autonomous collaborative search learning algorithm) integrated into the DMACSS. Compared with the previous system, DMACSS adopts a distributed control structure to improve the system robustness and combines an information fusion mechanism and a time stamp mechanism, making each AUV in the system able to exchange and fuse information during the mission. ACSLA is an adaptive learning algorithm trained by the RL (Reinforcement learning) method with a tailored design of state information, reward function, and training framework, which can give the system optimal search path in real-time according to the environment. We test DMACSS and ACSLA in the simulation test. The test results demonstrate that the DMACSS runs stably, the search accuracy and efficiency of ACSLA outperform other search methods, thus better realizing the cooperation between AUVs, making the DMACSS find the target more accurately and faster.

Allied Maritime Forces Transformation: Towards a Defence Planning Process That Includes Adaptable Warships

Warships have long service lives. During the life of a warship the types of operations that will be assigned to the ship will change (this happened for example at the end of the Cold War), the technology behind the installed systems will advance (e.g., radar performance and miniaturisation) and new technologies will emerge. New technologies are likely to require changes in the way operations are presently conducted (e.g., off-board systems for conducting mine countermeasures operations) and can deliver new operational capabilities to the ship (e.g., directed-energy weapon systems). For these reasons, warships can only maintain maximum operational relevance through-life if their operational capabilities can be augmented and adapted to meet changing user requirements. NATO nations and partners, and also their peer competitors, are designing and building more adaptable warships. A common characteristic of these ships is that mission essential systems can be added to and removed from the ship in a relatively short time period. Warship roles can thus be reconfigured. The future of this trend is transforming the NATO defence planning process so that the future structure of the allied maritime forces will include an appropriate mix of adaptable warships and up-to-date mission packages that can respond to constantly changing operational tasking. The naval architect is already aware that traditional warship design features must be re-worked to accommodate modular, in addition to—or even to replace—organic systems. This paper considers the transformation from the engineering and management of mission packages, their deployment and integration into new warship designs towards a new maritime defence planning philosophy and process.

Recent Progress of Marine Survey Unmanned Surface Vehicle in China

Based on the ongoing techniques among control theory, communication networks, and sensor design, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs) and unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) are experiencing rapid development. Research on these unmanned systems and those intelligent sectors inside has absorbed interests and investments from not only military but also civil organizations. The well-applied fields include surveillance and reconnaissance, surface warfare, antisubmarine warfare, mine countermeasures, oceanic environment monitoring, search and rescue, hydrographic survey, and so on. Comparing with those studies on UAVs and UUVs, the one focusing on USVs was started later and has been developed quickly in the past 20 years. Since 2013, USV has advanced considerably in China, particularly in the marine survey field. Owing to its characteristics of light-weighting, intelligence, and unmanned operations, USV is attractive for shallow water, extreme environments, and marine accidents. This paper comprehensively summarizes the recent progress of the marine survey USV in China. The structure of the paper is divided into three parts. First, we briefly recall the developing history and introduce several excellent USVs of China in recent years. The marine survey USVs invested by the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) are then summarized in the next section, along with the details of hydrographic survey in the South China Sea, Antarctic marine survey, and oil spill emergency response. Finally, the paper points out current deficiencies and future directions of the potential technique.

An operational effectiveness analysis of legacy and future mine countermeasures systems using discrete event simulation

This paper conducts an operational analysis of legacy and future mine warfare systems using discrete event simulation. The research focuses on a comparative analysis of the MCM-1 Avenger ship, supported by the MH-53E helicopter, and the Littoral Combat Ship, supported by external unmanned systems, in active, defense mine countermeasures operations. The paper develops architectural representations of the functional activities associated with mine countermeasures operations, as well as architectural representations of past, current, and potential future physical entities involved in minehunting and mine neutralization. Those architectural representations are used as the basis for the development of two distinct discrete event simulation models, one corresponding to legacy (MCM-1 Avenger) operations and another corresponding to future (Littoral Combat Ship) operations. The results of the simulation are analyzed using statistical regression. The regression results indicate that the key performance drivers for both the legacy and future systems show considerable overlap, and also suggest that the legacy assets meet or exceed the performance of future assets in several measures of effectiveness. The simulation model for the future assets is reconsidered to develop recommendations regarding alterations to the future force that enable the future force to exceed the operational performance of the legacy force.

Generational Shift: How technology is shaping a step change in the future of mine counter-measures

Developments in the command and control of offboard maritime assets, and evolution of the design of the assets themselves, have opened up new avenues to navies, industry and research institutes to change the way in which they consider and conduct Mine Countermeasures (MCM) operations. However this shift, driven by the opportunity for risk reduction and a potential increase in operational tempo, requires a change in Concepts of Operations; this will affect the way both MCM vessels and the associated MCM equipment are designed and operated in the future. This paper explores how BMT and QinetiQ have investigated the changes this new disruptive technology will have on MCM operations, and the concept of operations that can be adopted to maximise the use of this technology. Working with mine warfare and autonomous systems industry leaders, along with lessons from Unmanned Warrior 2016, and drawing on the experience of operators from several navies, the team established a range of operational concepts that can be employed to clear a minefield or hunt individual mines. Detailed Operational Analysis (OA) was carried out to validate these concepts and determine the required Unmanned Vehicle (UxV) numbers and capabilities. Aligned with this approach is the development of QinetiQ’s Equipment Agnostic Mission Enabling Infrastructure Technology (EAMEITS); a flexible system which maximises the use of UxV technology without adding to the operator burden. The outcome of this work is a new breed of MCM platform design which, thanks to the significant effort in developing the concepts of operation and the underlying OA over a number of years, is able to deliver mine warfare as technology transitions from the current capability to the future. This paper outlines the road taken to arrive at this design and the technology incorporated within, the lessons learnt along the way and what this means for the future of mine countermeasures operations.