An Optimized, Data Distribution Service-Based Solution for Reliable Data Exchange Among Autonomous Underwater...

Area of Science:

• Robotics and Autonomous Systems
• Distributed Systems
• Marine Technology

Background:

• Underwater environments pose unique challenges for cooperative autonomous vehicle systems, including low bandwidth and unreliable data transmission.
• Managing heterogeneous vehicles with diverse hardware and communication protocols requires robust interoperability solutions.
• Existing cyber-physical systems often struggle with the complexities of underwater, distributed networks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a Publish/Subscribe-based semantic middleware designed for unreliable underwater scenarios.
• To enhance interoperability among cooperative and heterogeneous autonomous maritime vehicles.
• To address the specific communication and data management issues in underwater distributed systems.

Main Methods:

• Development of a semantic middleware solution leveraging multiple iterations of the Data Distribution Service (DDS) standard.
• Integration of essential components for maritime operations: device/service registration, context awareness, and application layer access.
• Interweaving middleware with wireless and acoustic networking technologies for comprehensive maritime communication.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated satisfactory system performance through implementation details and test results.
• Validated the middleware's effectiveness in both laboratory and real-world deployment scenarios.
• Successfully addressed challenges of low bandwidth, unreliable transport, and hardware heterogeneity in underwater vehicle communication.

Conclusions:

• The proposed semantic middleware effectively manages heterogeneous autonomous vehicles in cooperative underwater missions.
• The DDS-based solution enhances vehicle interoperability and system reliability in challenging maritime environments.
• The architecture provides a robust foundation for future advancements in autonomous maritime operations.