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

该项目通过开发和展示一种新的机器人技术，在大(1000公里)空间尺度上持续、自主地观测冰下海洋环境，促进了国家的健康、繁荣和福利。北极正在经历快速变化，海冰覆盖和上层海洋发生了戏剧性的变化。监测和了解这些变化对于提高我们预测季节到十年时间尺度上的持续变化和变异性的能力至关重要。目前的观测能力受到在这种环境下作业的后勤挑战的严重阻碍--观测稀少、不频繁且获取成本高昂，尤其是对海底冰的观测。作为一种低成本、易于部署的平台，该项目开发的无人水下航行器将改变我们对北冰洋及其冰盖进行有效、广泛和持续监测的能力。在春季监测正在消退的冰缘上的冰海性质的冰下飞行任务，将为有效解决北极冰盖下的各种科学问题的独特能力提供概念证明，这些问题可以受益于大空间和时间尺度的测量。该项目支持美国国家科学基金会关于航行新北极的大构想。作为北极观测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、向管理层提供北极商业、矿产开采和渔业活动增加的信息，以及规划北极沿海社区的恢复能力提供关键的齿轮。该项目将开发和演示一种高度改装的自主水下滑翔机(AUG)，配备两用有源声纳来表征冰层厚度分布，以及用于实时地形辅助导航。这将使更远距离的冰下观测成为可能，而不需要外部导航辅助设备，如声学信标。AUG还将包括一个自动任务规划器/复制器，其中车辆可以自动调整其任务计划，以响应不断变化的任务目标和环境或车辆状态变化，例如数据驱动的自适应采样，基于冰流改变铺设位置，或在部件故障阻碍车辆进度和减少预期航程的情况下。最后，将开发一种新的可变推力混合动力推进系统，既可以在水流较大的浅海水域运行，也可以在较深水域运行，从而能够有效地从沿海地区转移到偏远的科学地点，同时使飞行器能够进行水柱剖面图以及近距离冰层测量。这些特点将有助于长期无人值守的冰下观察，降低成本和后勤需求。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.