MRI: Acquisition of a Heterogeneous Networked Instrument for Aquatic Exploration and Intelligent Sampling

该项目的目标是通过一个自动化的机器人监测系统解决四角地区与水有关的问题，该系统由多个合作和通信的自主机器人组成，作为一个综合监测系统。水生观测和监测是了解和最终预测城市化、蓄水和气候变化长期影响的关键。有效的观测和监测需要同时测量多种水的性质，这必须迅速进行，以捕捉空间和时间上的变化。自动水上交通工具提供了一种高性价比、非侵入性和可重复的方式，可以以前所未有的分辨率近距离观察水生生态系统。由于这些现代机器人具有如此惊人的能力，该项目的主要挑战是确定在哪里以及何时部署机器人，以最大限度地了解我们的水资源。通过这项研究工作，这项研究不仅将更多地了解四角地区的水资源，而且还将开发算法和智能采样策略，可用于研究世界各地的任何水环境，例如海洋、湖泊、河流等。水生无线传感器网络有助于更好地科学了解水生生态系统、环境监测、国防应用、国土安全和水产养殖，为社区提供丰富的应用，而不是本文直接研究的应用。有效观察和量化发生在海洋等水环境中的时空动态过程，需要同时测量不同的水性质，这必须快速地进行，以捕捉多个同时相互作用的空间和时间变异性。这不能通过传统的海洋学方法做到这一点，这些方法包括从船只、浮标和漂流者那里进行不频繁和稀疏的测量。研究必须采用一个自适应采样的不同种类的机器人资产团队，该团队能够进行现场特征识别和事件反应，并进行准确的定位，以填补对一系列过程：物理过程(如潮汐混合和季节性翻转)、化学过程(如营养物质上升流和缺氧)和生物过程(如有害藻类水华)的理解上的巨大差距。要成功地协调多车辆部署，还需要一个强大、快速且经济高效的通信网络。只有当构成水生机器人传感系统的所有这些部件同步运行时，科学家才能开始提高我们对复杂水生环境的整体理解。该项目将获得并实施一个由三个互补的水上机器人、两个自主水面航行器和一个自主水下航行器组成的异类联网仪器。这些联网的机器人将加强海洋机器人、联网和审慎规划方面的研究计划，通过解决四角地区的关键水质问题来解决海洋生物学、海洋学和水生生物地球化学中的基本问题。拟议的仪器采购将为验证大规模、异类机器人网络的规划和采样策略提供一个具有成本效益的试验台。具体地说，拟议的系统将使研究人员能够高效且具有成本效益地开发、测试和验证用于智能水生采样的协调的多车辆控制算法和策略。

The goal of this project is to address water-related issues in the Four Corners Region through an automated, robotic monitoring system composed of multiple cooperating and communicating autonomous robots that serve as an integrated monitoring system. Aquatic observation and monitoring is key to understanding and ultimately predicting long-term effects of urbanization, water storage and climate change. Effective observation and monitoring requires simultaneous measurement of multiple water properties, which must be made rapidly to capture variations in both space and time. Autonomous aquatic vehicles provide a cost-effective, non-intrusive, and a repeatable way of observing aquatic ecosystems up close, and at an unprecedented resolution. With these modern robots having such amazing capabilities, the main challenge in this project is to determine where and when to deploy the robots to gain the most understanding of our water resources. Through this research effort, the research will not only learn more about water resources in the Four Corners Region, but it will additionally develop algorithms and intelligent sampling strategies that can be utilized for studying any aquatic environment around the world, e.g., oceans, lakes, rivers, etc. Aquatic wireless sensor networks are instrumental to a better scientific understanding of aquatic ecosystems, environmental monitoring, surveillance for defense applications, homeland security, and aquaculture, providing a wealth of applications to the community beyond those directly studied in this proposal.Effective observation and quantification of spatiotemporally dynamic processes occurring in aquatic environments, e.g., the ocean, requires simultaneous measurement of diverse water properties, which must be made rapidly to capture the both the spatial and temporal variability of multiple simultaneous interactions. This cannot be done by traditional oceanographic methods involving infrequent and sparse measurements from ships, buoys and drifters. The research must employ an adaptive-sampling, heterogeneous team of robotic assets that can perform in situ feature recognition and event response with accurate localization to plug a substantial gap in understanding of a range of processes: physical (e.g., tidal mixing and seasonal overturn), chemical (e.g., nutrient upwelling and hypoxia), and biological (e.g., harmful algal blooms). Successfully orchestrating a multi-vehicle, deployment additionally requires a robust, rapid and cost-effective communication network. Only when all these components, which form an aquatic robotic, sensing system, are in synchronous operation can scientists begin to improve our overall understanding of the complex aquatic environment. This project will acquire and implement a heterogeneous networked instrument composed of three complementary aquatic robots; two autonomous surface vehicles and one autonomous underwater vehicle. These networked robots will enhance a program of research in marine robotics, networking, and deliberative planning to address fundamental questions in marine biology, oceanography, and aquatic biogeochemistry by addressing critical water quality issues within the Four Corners Region. The proposed instrument acquisition will provide a cost-effective test bed for the validation of planning and sampling strategies for large-scale, heterogeneous robotic networks. Specifically, the proposed system will enable researchers to efficiently and cost-effectively develop, test and validate coordinated, multi-vehicle control algorithms and strategies for intelligent aquatic sampling.