A hierarchical planner for autonomous underwater vehicle control: the distributed control system multicomputer (DCSM) workbench

The objective of the DCSM project is to develop and test hardware and operating-system-level concepts in support of knowledge-based architectures for the execution of command and control for autonomous vehicles. Research is concentrated on the areas of multicomputer hardware, system software, and the ways in which they can support knowledge-based application software as well as traditional control programs. The primary goal of this program is to develop a multicomputer architectural environment capable of supporting differing topologies of processing hardware, memory association and interconnection. A prototype distributed planning framework which allows evaluation of the coordination of plans in terms of goals, assertions, and informational usage is described. An example vehicle control mission is evaluated and decomposed into a planning hierarchy which aids in modeling the interaction of an AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle) and a manned submarine