Dynamic vessel spacing adjustment in a swarm of autonomous surface vehicles for improved overlap in hydrographic survey

Abstract

Recognizing the unparalleled benefits of organizing multiple autonomous surface vessels (ASVs) into swarms to improve hydrographic survey efficiency, yet noting the scarcity of empirical research in this area, this study analyzes available tools and architectures for simulating ASV swarm control. Building on the selected simulation framework, this study develops a practical, lightweight solution to dynamically adjust vessel-to-vessel spacing in response to real-time swath width measurements at each vessel, ensuring a prescribed overlap percentage. Developed entirely within the simulation framework, this Python-scripted solution constructs a swarm of simulated ArduPilot vessels and generates the streams of simulated swath widths from hypothetical and real depth values. The performance of this solution was evaluated through tests with fine-tuned adjustment parameters, and the results were investigated quantitatively and visually.