Simulating Candidate Missions for a Novel Glider Unmanned Underwater Vehicle

摘要

Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) are becoming ubiquitous in the framework of U.S. Navy operations. According to the U.S. Navy's UUV Master Plan (2004), research and development will expand UUV capabilities that enable diverse roles from Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) and Mine Countermeasures to Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) and Information Operations (IO). However, typical UUVs are severely limited in operational characteristics such as endurance and range which prevents their use conducting certain missions. A novel UUV is currently being designed that is projected to support significantly greater endurance and range characteristics. This UUV is called Seadiver and is being designed by Institute of Engineering Science of Toulon, France with support from Naval Postgraduate School. It is a low-cost glider UUV which generates propulsion not with propellers or jet pumps, but rather by controlling its buoyancy. This method of propulsion is quite efficient and maybe capable of autonomous operation up to 30 days with a range of around 700 nautical miles. A UUV with such endurance and range exposes military missions previously impractical for UUVs especially when used in concert as an array of many UUVs. This thesis creates a simulation using NPS-produced software simulation tools Simkit, Viskit and AUV Workbench that analyzes the capabilities and effectiveness of Seadiver UUVs conducting missions of tactical interest.