Communications-optimized task planning for maritime search and survey

In this study we consider the scheduling of an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) performing search and survey of a target area (TA) based on the prediction of communications in maritime environmental conditions. While the UUV sweeps the TA, it gathers sonar data which is communicated back to the main ship via acoustic communications, and via radio frequency (RF) communications by surfacing at the end of a sweep when good communications are predicted. In this study we shown that by placing the most sweeps within the predicted good communication ranges, the information gain rate (IGR) can be maximized, therefore demonstrating the benefits of RF communications prediction capability while performing the survey mission.