Software architecture for anti-submarine warfare unmanned surface vehicles

Abstract

The U.S. Navy seeks to reduce costs associated with anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations by exploring the use of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs). Currently, the process of finding submarines tends to be tedious and manpower intensive due to the high volume of acoustic data with limited means to filter for valuable information. Therefore, innovative software frameworks are required to transition from a one-to-many to a many-to-one USV/ human interaction model. By examining potential software frameworks, this thesis addresses many of the benefits and challenges inherent to using USVs in dynamic maritime environments. Furthermore, this evaluation provides a building block for the continued development of USV software systems.