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观察冰下海洋环境，促进国家健康，繁荣和福利。北极正在经历迅速的变化，海冰覆盖和上层海洋发生了巨大的变化。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持续变化和变率的能力至关重要。目前的观测能力受到在这种环境下操作的后勤挑战的严重阻碍-观测稀少，不频繁，获得昂贵，特别是对于海冰下的观测。作为一个低成本、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。在冰下的任务，以监测冰-海洋属性在春天撤退的冰边缘将提供一个独特的能力，有效地解决广泛的科学问题，北极冰盖下，可以受益于大的空间和时间尺度的测量概念证明。该项目支持NSF关于导航新北极的大想法。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的能力提供一个关键的齿轮，并为北极商业、矿产开采和渔业活动的增加提供信息管理。该项目将开发和展示一种高度改装的自主水下滑翔机（AUG），该滑翔机配备有双使用主动声纳来确定冰厚分布的特征，并进行实时地形辅助导航。这将使得能够在不需要声学信标等外部导航辅助设备的情况下进行远距离冰下观测。AUG还将包括自动使命规划器/重新规划器，其中飞行器可以响应于不断变化的使命目标和环境或飞行器状态变化而自主地调整其使命规划，例如数据驱动的自适应采样、基于冰漂移改变表面位置、或者在部件故障阻碍飞行器前进和减小预期范围的情况下。最后，将开发一种新的可变推力混合推进系统，用于在高海流的沿海浅沃茨和较深的沃茨运行，从而能够有效地从沿海运输到偏远的科学地点，同时使飞行器能够进行水柱剖面分析以及近距离冰调查。这些特点将有助于长期无人值守的冰下观测，降低成本和后勤要求。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得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的支持。

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.