Concepts and Conclusions from the “2010 Pan- American Advanced Studies Institute on Dynamics and Control of Manned and Unmanned Marine Vehicles”

Leigh McCue¹
Marco Sanjuan²
Ryan Hubbard³

Abstract

In the summer of 2010, the first ever NSF’s Pan-American Advanced Studies Institute (PASI) in Colombia was held in Barranquilla and Cartagena. The two-week institute brought together researchers of the Americas to discuss topics related to dynamics and control of manned and unmanned marine vehicles. This paper presents a summary of the program organization and findings, along with lecturer and participant feedback. It is intended to serve as a lead-in to the technical papers by PASI participants contained in this special edition of Ship Science & Technology.

Key words: PASI, marine vehicles, autonomous, unmanned

Resumen

Entre los meses de Junio y Julio de 2010 se realizó por primera vez en Colombia el Instituto Panamericano de Estudios Avanzados (PASI, del inglés Pan-American Advanced Studies Institute) de la National Science Foundation (NSF), en las ciudades de Barranquilla y Cartagena. Este instituto a lo largo de dos semanas congregó a investigadores de todo el continente para discutir temáticas relacionadas con dinámica y control de vehículos marinos tripulados y no tripulados. Este artículo presenta una síntesis de los principales elementos de dicho instituto, los resultados de la organización del evento, así como la retroalimentación recibida por conferencistas y participantes. Además, este artículo pretende servir como prólogo a artículos técnicos preparados por los participantes del PASI en esta edición especial de Ciencia y Tecnología de Buques.

Palabras claves: PASI, vehículos marinos, autónomos, no tripulados

Date received: July 16th, 2010. - Fecha de recepción: 16 de Julio de 2010.
Date Accepted: July 19th, 2010. - Fecha de aceptación: 19 de Julio de 2010.

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¹ Aerospace and Ocean Engineering, Virginia Tech. e-mail: mccue@vt.edu
² Mechanical Engineering, Universidad del Norte. e-mail: msanjuan@uninorte.edu.co
³ Aerospace and Ocean Engineering, Virginia Tech. e-mail: hubbard7@vt.edu

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Introduction

The purpose of the Pan-American Advanced Studies Institute (PASI) on Dynamics and Control of Manned and Unmanned Marine Vehicles was to draw world leaders at controlling, modeling, and predicting the motions of marine vehicles in a unified setting to disseminate knowledge to students, researchers, academics, and practitioners in the Americas. The organization of the Institute represents collaboration between American academics at Virginia Tech and the University of Michigan, Colombian industry and academia including Cotecmar, Universidad del Norte, and Escuela Naval “Almirante Padilla,” and Brazilian faculty at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.The Institute sought to broaden the base and expertise of researchers, scientists, and students studying dynamics and control as applied to marine vehicles as well to bring together researchers from different sectors of the marine field. By encouraging discussion, education, and collaboration through this Institute, the group collectively formed a stronger collective understanding of the dynamic behavior of vessels in marine environments, control system solutions, as well as the challenges ahead in analytical and computational modeling, design, and control of such vessels. Additionally, the PASI highlighted opportunities for use of unmanned vehicles in K-12 and undergraduate education particularly through SeaPerch (SNAME, 2010) and AUVSI (AUVSI, 2010) opportunities. In Fig. 1 the primary theme areas for the Institute; namely, manned vehicles, unmanned vehicles, and education and outreach, along with sub-topics are presented. Numerous topics appear at the intersection between manned and unmanned vehicles; one of the missions of this workshop was to encourage discussion between manned and unmanned vehicle researchers.

Program and organization

The PASI on dynamics and control of manned and unmanned marine vehicles was developed to educate graduate students and researchers on modern challenges and solutions to maritime dynamics and controls issues. Additionally, as part of the PASI, new collaborative relationships for researchers in the field of stability and control of marine vehicles throughout the Americas were built while bringing together scholars from traditionally disparate sectors of the maritime field, from exploration, to military and commercial shipping, to unmanned vehicles and robotics, in a single venue. Attendees came from as far north at Michigan, west as Hawaii, south as Brazil, and east as Spain. Substantial emphasis was also placed upon mechanisms for incorporation of unmanned and autonomous vehicles into K-12 and undergraduate education such as the SeaPerch program and Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) competitions.

Organizing Committees

The membership of the international and local organizing committees is as given in Table 1.

Program

A schedule of events from the final PASI program appears in Table 2. The program generally sought to focus upon manned vehicles in the first week and unmanned vehicles in the second week with lecturers highlighting overlap and areas for collaboration between researchers operating in either or both of these domains. Participants attended both weeks of the PASI to ensure crosspollination of ideas.

Participants also engaged in the design and construction of a SeaPerch underwater vehicle. SeaPerch (SNAME, 2010) is a hands-on underwater robotics program coordinated by the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) under Office of Naval Research (ONR) funding. Th is K-12 outreach activity is designed to introduce students to fundamental concepts in engineering and naval architecture ranging from teamwork to Archimedes’ principle. By having PASI participants build SeaPerch vehicles, the PASI served the dual purpose of essentially becoming an international SeaPerch teacher training session. Th is emphasis on outreach was a core component of the PASI with talks scheduled to focus on teaching with underwater vehicles.

In addition to the technical lecturers and presentations, available online at the PASI website: http://www.pasi.aoe.vt.edu, and SeaPerch activities, highlights of the program included a river trip on a buoy tending vessel along the Rio Magdalena and a tour of COTECMAR’s shipyard. Th is allowed participants to have strong exposure to the specifi c needs and interests of the Colombian commercial and military naval sector. Additional social activities included a scenic tour between Barranquilla and Cartagena with a beachside stop for fi sh, swimming, and soccer, along the Caribbean at Caño Dulce and experiencing the mud volcano Volcán del Totumo, a holiday barbeque at the Colombian Naval Offi cers’ Club hosted by COTECMAR, an evening chiva tour of Cartagena, and a free-day to sightsee. A brief pictorial summary is given in Fig. 2.

During the institute, the usage of surface and semisubmersible small vessels for drug traffi cking from South American countries to Central and North America was discussed. Th anks to COTECMAR and the Colombian Navy’s Coast Guard Station in Cartagena, the participants were briefed on the challenges of this type of activity and the successful interdiction operations of recent years. PASI attendees had the opportunity to take a close look at four indicted vessels stationed in Cartagena’s Coast Guard Station.

Findings

While full technical details of the presentations are available on the PASI website at http://www.pasi. aoe.vt.edu, specifi c fi ndings included highlighting the interplay between technologies developed for unmanned vehicles as applicable to manned vehicles, sensors, development of traditional and non-traditional computational fl uid dynamics approaches for design and control, and the importance of reaching the next generation of young engineers via exciting hands-on outreach activities.

Participant and Lecture Feedback

Feedback from the participants and lecturers of the PASI was needed in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. This feedback was collect via a questionnaire-styled survey given to participants and lecturers at the beginning and conclusion of the program. The pre-survey was designed to gather information on demographics, as well as determining what the expectations of the participants and lecturers were before starting the program. The post-survey is designed to see if those expectations were met and if the mission of the PASI program was accomplished. Both surveys were administered in English and Spanish and the format of both surveys is given in Appendices A and B.

Demographics

The PASI program saw a diverse blend of lecturers and participants in terms of citizenship, location of work, and academic level. The demographic distribution of citizenship of the lecturers and participants completing the pre-survey is illustrated in Fig. 3(a), demographic distribution of location of work of the lecturers and participants completing the pre-survey is illustrated in Fig. 3(b), and the academic level of the lecturers and participants completing the pre-survey is illustrated in Fig. 3(c).

Program evaluation

Based on the pre-program survey, expectations of the lecturers and participants ranged from a desire to learn more about the technologies at hand and on-going research in the field to networking and a seeking to learn more about Colombian culture and foreign engineering methods.In response to the question “What do you expect to gain from participating in PASI,” answers included:

“Meet new people. Exchange ideas.
Learn something new. Get exposure for
my work. See a new country/culture.”—US
faculty member

“Learn about Colombia and manned & unmanned vehicles.”—US masters student “Learn about state of the art marine dynamics and controls. Meet people working in the field. Find ideas for collaborative projects in the topic of the PASI”—Colombian PhD student “1) Relationships with colleagues from domestic and international universities who have similar or complementary research interests.

2) A better understanding of the Colombian Navy’s challenges, particularly wrt riverine operations. (Riverine USVs are a current research interest.)”—US faculty member

“Compartir experiencias y advances en los temas centrales del PASI. Conocer colegas de otros paises y generar redes”—Masters student studying in Brazil

Participants and lecturers were asked in the post-survey questionnaire whether or not their expectations from the beginning of the program were met, the results of which are presented in Fig. 4. Based on the responses they gave prior to the start of the program, participants and lecturers could indicate whether they strongly agreed,

As indicated, an overwhelming majority of the respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that the goals of PASI were met, speaking to the overall effectiveness of the program.

In addition, participants and lecturers were also asked to evaluate the quality of the conference speakers. Fig. 6 shows that all respondents felt the instructors were either excellent or good.

Program evaluation

On the post-survey, lecturers and participants were also asked to suggest areas of improvement for future PASI-like gatherings of scientists and engineers. Many respondents expressed that they were happy with the way the program was executed, though some made suggestions to reduce the overall length of the program.

There were also some respondents that expressed a desire to have more group work present during the sessions. Group work in the PASI as scheduled was limited to end-of-week wrap up sessions and the SeaPerch hands-on outreach activity. While long lunches were scheduled deliberately to allow time for individual interaction, structuring this into ‘active learning’ exercises in each session certainly makes sense in the context of learning theory, is highly feasible, and would be a welcome addition
to any PASI program.

In response to the question “Do you have any suggestions for improvements of the program?” answers included:

“Shorter lectures and more group work. For example, each lecturer could provide short (~30 minutes) activity for participants to work on after each lecture. Participants would be encouraged to work with different groups every day.”—US PhD student.

“The mix of technical and personal interaction is ideal to encourage collaboration among the participants”—US faculty member.

“Very effective as is. My expectations were different but then I realized how naive I was in these, and learned a lot. Was a significant ‘eye opener’ for me regarding issues, the military situation, and required technologies well beyond my previous assumptions. Moreover, meeting the various parties, NAVY, CG, etc, face-face in their facilities was far more effective than meeting them in the US.

Improvements: possibly some side-bar meetings + time with principles to discuss business; or not…i.e. prior development of gaps & issues (CUT TO CHASE) and technologies on the other side; bring together in a form of applicability. Prior to program, identify and initiate POCs state-side for possible business + funding routes=do this up front prior to travel so ‘follow-up’ is clear and pre-initiated. Follow-up is usually what fails to happen with these conferences.”— US research scientist.

“The overall program was good and there was a variety of different marine vehicle presentations. It was well organized but perhaps a little smaller of an event than I expected. The Colombian hosts did a great job at making the participants comfortable and entertained. More students would be nice because we have the most to gain from this experience. Overall, I had a fantastic trip!”—US masters student.

Acknowledgments

The Pan-American Advanced Studies Institute on Dynamics and Control of Manned and Unmanned Marine Vehicles was generously supported by the United States National Science Foundation (NSF) and Department of Energy (DOE) under grant number OISE-0921820 and the oversight of NSF program officer Dr. Harold Stolberg. Additionally, support for the PASI was provided by Universidad del Norte and Escuela Naval “Almirante Padilla,” the two host organizations for the PASI, Virginia Tech including the Virginia Center for Autonomous Systems (VaCAS) and the Aerospace and Ocean Engineering (AOE) Department, Cotecmar, DIMAR, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the Office of Naval Research—Global (ONRG), the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) and Maritime Reporter.

The authors are also tremendously grateful to everyone who assisted on the organizing committees and in the nitty-gritty making the program happen details including Maria Claudia Durango Dickson (UniNorte), Ely Acosta (UniNorte), Rosa Avalos (VT), Jon Couch (VT), CMDR Oscar Tascón (Cotecmar), CAPT Jorge Carreño (Cotecmar), Fernando Delgado (Cotecmar), Carlos Mojica (Cotecmar), Luis Aranibar (Cotecmar), Jimmy Saravia (Cotecmar), CMDR Fabio Zapata (Escuela Naval), Germán García (Escuela Naval), ADM Luis Ordoñez (Escuela Naval), Marcelo Santos Neves (UFRJ) and Armin Troesch (UM). And last, but certainly not least, the authors wish to thank the wonderful lecturers and participants, without whom this PASI never would have happened.

References

AUVSI, “Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International,” http://www.auvsi.org/AUVSI/ AUVSI/Home/, accessed July 2010.

NSF, “Pan-American Advanced Studies Institutes Program (PASI),” http://www.nsf.gov/ pubs/2010/nsf10517/nsf10517.htm, accessed August 2010.

SNAME, “The official site of SeaPerch,” http:// www.seaperch.org, accessed: July, 2010.