From Concept to Field Tests: Accelerated Development of Multi-AUV Missions Using a High-Fidelity Faster-than-Real-Time Simulator

Abstract-- We designed and validated a novel simulator for efficient development of multi-robot marine missions. To accelerate development of cooperative behaviors, the simulator models the robots' operating conditions with moderately high fidelity and runs significantly faster than real time, including acoustic communications, dynamic environmental data, and high-resolution bathymetry in large worlds. The simulator's ability to exceed a real-time factor (RTF) of 100 has been stresstested with a robust continuous integration suite and was used to develop a multi-robot field experiment. Autonomous robots are a mainstay of modern ocean exploration. Robots collect measurements in situ at larger sensors at what we believe to be greater speed than previous scales, with greater precision, and at significantly lower simulators, while allowing scientific data to be visualized cost than traditional ship operations.