Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing subsidiary, is developing the “Fast Adaptation and Learning for Control Online (FALCON)” control architecture for the first phase of DARPA’s Learning Introspective Control (LINC) program, which will enable unmanned surface vessels and other vehicles to adapt control laws in real time to maintain safe operation in unpredictable conditions.
Aurora has teamed with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Aerospace Control Laboratory (ACL) and the MIT Maritime Autonomy Laboratory (PavLab) to test its adaptive control architecture on a 1.5-meter-long unmanned surface vessel (USV). Moving into Phase 1 of the LINC program, the team is now conducting tests on a larger, 5-meter (16-foot) long USV.
The team is focused on testing a variety of simulation scenarios, such as the relative position-keeping scenario, where the adaptive control system maintains a consistent position relative to another vessel, enabling the delivery of items from one vessel to the next, also known as replenishment-at-sea (UNREP). In each scenario, Aurora’s USV with adaptive control technology must successfully complete the mission while overcoming obstacles such as wind loads, thruster failures, and the Venturi effect. The program also aims to improve the stability of ship-based cranes to make crane operations at sea safer and more precise.
When control systems adapt their control laws in real time and under unexpected conditions, vessel operations become more reliable, building trust with human operators and improving the performance of human-machine teams. Adaptive control algorithms continuously improve performance and safety without the long lead times and system updates required by traditional control systems.
As part of Phase 1, Aurora and MIT teams will participate in four DARPA LINC demonstration events, one approximately every six months, starting later this year. Sandia National Laboratories is supporting the LINC testing events and providing opportunities for collaboration on test definitions, metrics and infrastructure.
“This development has been driven by collaboration between experts from DARPA, Sandia, MIT and the Navy,” said Graham Drozedski, chief technology officer at Aurora Flight Sciences. “Together, we are advancing technologies that will make land, air and sea vehicle operations more efficient and safer.”
The team has already begun testing on the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts, in preparation for the first demonstration of Phase 1. Looking further ahead, the team plans to continue progressing towards larger test platforms, including a 24-foot manned vessel.