Time-Optimal Path Planning in the Portugal-Azores-Madeira Ocean Region
Author(s)
Dahill, Clara
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Advisor
Lermusiaux, Pierre F.J.
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For intelligent ocean exploration and sustainable ocean utilization, the need for smart autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), surface craft, and small aircrafts is rapidly increasing. The challenge of creating an optimal navigation route between departure and destination points for these vehicles has many applications, including ocean data collection, transportation and distribution of goods, naval operations, search and rescue, marine pollution, ocean cleanup, conservation, and solar-wind-wave energy harvesting, among others. Our computational approach uses our MSEAS time-optimal path planning theory and schemes based on exact Hamilton–Jacobi PDE and Level Set methods to predict time-optimal trajectories. This approach allows for multiple applications in optimal path planning for autonomous vehicles in the ocean and coastal environment. Employing our multi-resolution ocean modeling and data assimilation in the Portugal-Azores-Madeira region of the Northern Atlantic, we compute time reachability sets and optimal paths, and examine the sensitivity to variations in vehicle type, speed, start time, voyage direction, and operating depths. Our study illustrates how navigational paths vary with these parameters, and how the ocean dynamics and variability in the Portuguese ocean regions affect the time optimization, as compared to a direct voyage in the absence of any ocean flow and currents. Further in this work, we extend these methods by adding additional constraints to find minimum arrival times for vehicles travelling through archipelago areas that contain many land masses, as well as executing interception routes between two vehicles. These computations will allow for expanded capacity of ocean AUVs to execute their missions, by reducing travel time and energy use, and extending range. The methods in this thesis focus on data-driven multi-resolution ocean modeling and simulations as well as new time-optimal path planning and reachability studies for autonomous ocean vehicles in the Portugal-Azores-Madeira ocean region.
Date issued
2022-05Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical EngineeringPublisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology