Communication and localisation using underwater acoustics

对水下核材料储存设施的例行检查通常由系泊车辆或机器人进行。使用非系泊车辆有许多好处，包括：消除系绳缠绕的危险；在车辆定位方面有更大的自由度；以及有机会通过使用多(群)车辆来减少检查时间。传统的水下核存储设施在使用系泊飞行器时面临着特别的挑战，因为它们的布局杂乱无章。非系泊车辆可能是检查这些设施以支持退役活动的唯一实际方法。使用非系泊车辆导航和检查水下存储设施需要通信和定位(定位)基础设施。当需要以高于10kbps的速率传输数据时，射频(RF)无线技术在水下的可用范围非常有限，而光无线技术受到悬浮固体散射和发射器和接收器之间直接视线的要求的限制。在典型的水下存储设施中遇到的距离，声学通信和定位是一个实用的替代方案。该项目将开发一种声学通信和定位系统，可以改装到现有车辆上，并整合到新的设计中。在现有系绳车辆的情况下，系绳提供高带宽通信链路，声学系统将提供有价值的位置信息。该系统将使用一系列位于存储设施外围水下的基站。基站以声学方式从水下机器人接收数据/向水下机器人发送数据，并向操作员提供有线通信链路。基站还提供已知的参考位置(称为锚)，以便能够确定车辆的位置(定位)。在传统存储设施的非结构化环境中实现可靠的通信和准确的定位将被证明是具有挑战性的，该项目将在一个具有代表性但良性的测试环境中对该系统进行广泛的实验评估。EPSRC研究领域：人工智能技术；机器人；传感器和仪器；

The routine inspection underwater storage facilities for nuclear materials is typically conducted by tethered vehicles or robots. The use of untethered vehicles offers a number of advantages, including: removing the hazard of the tether becoming entangled; greater freedom in the positioning of the vehicle; and the opportunity to reduce the inspection time through the use of multiple (swarms) of vehicles. Legacy underwater nuclear storage facilities present a particular challenge when using tethered vehicles due to them having cluttered or unstructured layouts. Untethered vehicles may be the only practical way to inspect these facilities in support of decommissioning activities.The navigation and inspection of underwater storage facilities using non-tethered vehicles requires a communication and localisation (positioning) infrastructure. Radio Frequency (RF) wireless technology has a very limited useful range underwater when required to transmit data at rates greater than 10 kbps, and optical wireless technology is limited by scattering from suspended solids and the requirement for direct line-of-sight between the transmitter and receiver. Across the distances encountered in typical underwater storage facilities, acoustic communication and localisation is a practical alternative. This project will develop an acoustic communication and localisation system that can be retrofitted to existing vehicles and integrated into new designs. In the case of existing tethered vehicles, where the tether provides a high bandwidth communication link, the acoustic system will provide valuable position information. The system will use a series of base-stations positioned underwater around the periphery of the storage facility. The base-stations receive/transmit data acoustically from/to the underwater vehicles, and provide a wired communication link to the operators. The base-stations also provide known reference positions (termed anchors) to enable the positions of the vehicles to be determined (localisation). Achieving reliable communication and accurate positioning in the unstructured environment of the legacy storage facilities will prove challenging, and the project will undertake an extensive experimental evaluation of the system in a representative, but benign, test environment.EPSRC Research Areas: Artificial intelligence technologies; Robotics; Sensors and Instrumentation;