Technical Session 3: Robotics & Autonomy

Chair : Mr. Wang Jong Chin, AD(TS), FSTD Co-chairs: Prof Ben Chen, TL@NUS Prof Xie Lihua, TL@NUT Prof Kristin Wood, TL@SUTD Panelists: Dr Ho Quan Wai, DSO Ng Seng Leong, FSTD Ki Cheuw Kon, FSTD Boyd Loh, FSTD Ho Choong Chuin, FSTD

TECHNICAL SESSION

Technical Session 3: Robotics & Autonomy Time: 1330 hrs Venue: LT 5 Chair : Mr. Wang Jong Chin, AD(TS), FSTD Co-chairs: Prof Ben Chen, TL@NUS; Prof Xie Lihua, TL@NUT; Prof Kristin Wood, TL@SUTD Panelists: Dr Ho Quan Wai, Ng Seng Leong, Ki Cheuw Kon, Boyd Loh, Ho Choong Chuin

TECHNICAL SESSION

Robotics & Autonomy, Our Challenges and

Requirements Air Domain – Boyd Loh, FSTD

Land Domain – Ki Cheuw Kon, FSTD

Sea Domain – Ho Choong Chuin, FSTD

Requirements (15mins)

Examples of

Technology

Developments

with TLs (30mins)

Q & A

Autonomous Navigation in Urban & Forested

Environment by Prof Ben Chen, TL@NUS

Teaming & Swarming by Prof Xie Lihua, TL@NTU

STARS Development by Prof Kristin Wood, TL@SUTD

Discussion with PgMs, Clarification over Tea

Impetus: Lean Defence

Force Efficiency

Tech Enablers Platform Autonomy Task Autonomy One-to-Many

Challenges & Requirements

AIR DOMAIN CHALLENGES

Mix of highly developed

urban landscape as well

as dense vegetation

Indoor flight

Tropical climate, ranges from wet

to very wet!!!

Heavily utilised airspace. How

do we share?

AIR DOMAIN REQUIREMENTS

• Our requirements

– Nimble & agile, ability to fly within confined

spaces

– Fly longer & further

– Fly, stop and fly again?

– Bio-mimicry

– As small as possible with useful endurance

LAND DOMAIN URBAN CHALLENGES

GPS Denied Navigation

• High rise Building

Mobility

• Narrow alleys

• Challenging Obstacles

Communications

• Non-Line of Sight

• High thru-put low latency

• Limited Bandwidth

availability

Dynamic Environment

• Heavy Traffic

Poor Situation Awareness

• Cluttered environment

Mobility GPS Denied Navigation

• Under Foliage

Communications

• Non-Line of Sight

• High thru-put low

latency

Adverse Environment

• Dust clouds

• Heavy Rain

LAND DOMAIN OFF ROAD CHALLENGES

Traversable Terrain

• -ve obstacle

• Water

• Overhanging branches

LAND DOMAIN ENVIRONMENT

Structured Environment Un-Structured Environment

Dynamic

Unpredictable

Unknown

Fixed

Repeatable

Known

vs

LAND DOMAIN REQUIREMENTS

Our Requirements

1. Operating in Unstructured Environment

2. Innovative Solution

• Low Cost

• Compact sensors

• Commonality in sensors

• Long Endurance

SEA DOMAIN TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES

(Unmanned surface vehicle & autonomous underwater vehicle)

SEA DOMAIN MISSIONS & APPLICATIONS

Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) • Mine CounterMeasures • Anti-Submarine Warfare • Force Protection • Maritime Security

Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) • Intelligence / Surveillance / Reconnaissance • Mine CounterMeasures • Anti-Submarine Warfare • Oceanography / Rapid Environment Assessment

SEA DOMAIN R&T REQUIREMENTS

• Intelligence & Autonomy

• Communication & Networking

• Launch and Recovery System

(LARS)

• Energy and Power

SEA DOMAIN - LEVEL OF AUTONOMY

1. Remote Control, Tele-operation (e.g. ROV)

2. External, Operator-generated or pre-programmed waypoints

3. Off-board Waypoint Generation

4. On-board, Auto Waypoint (Path) Generation

5. Object Detection, Recognition, Collision Avoidance

6. Fusion of On-board and Off-board Sensors and Data

• Mission Autonomy

• Mission Re-planning on-the-fly

7. Cooperative / Swarm

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SEA DOMAIN - UNDERWATER COMMUNICATIONS

• Bandwidth and range limitation

• High ambient noise

• Multi-path in shallow water

• High attenuation

• Low baud rate

PARADIGM System (REMUS) Acoustic Modem

ACCOM

WLAN

MMI

Surface

Mode

Underwater

Mode

(WLAN Range 300-400m, ACCOM Range 1.5 km)

SEA DOMAIN - LAUNCH & RECOVERY

Sensing, tight position accuracy and multi-DOF guidance and control

SEA DOMAIN – POWER & ENERGY

• Battery-based

– Primary battery vs secondary battery

– Commonly used for Underwater application, Lead acid, NiMH, Ag-Zn,

Lithium Ion, Lithium Polymer

• Fuel Cells

– High capacity (kWH)

– Bulky equipment (i.e. oxygen and hydrogen tanks) and supporting

devices

– Highly compressed gases, special handling required

• AIP (Air Independent Propulsion)

– Huge volume required for AIP equipments

– Vehicle can weight up to tons

• Thermal engine (Gliders concept)

• Solar Energy

• Seawater Batteries??

Li-Polymer

(190WH/kg)

Li-Ion Fuel Cell