Sensor coverage with a heterogeneous fleet of autonomous surface vessels

Sensor coverage of large areas is a problem that occurs in a variety of different environments from terrestrial to aerial to aquatic. Here we consider the aquatic version of the problem. Given a known aquatic environment and collection of aquatic surface vehicles with known kinematic and dynamic constraints, how can a fleet of vehicles be deployed to provide sensor coverage of the surface of the body of water? Rather than considering this problem in general, here we consider the problem given a specific fleet consisting of one very well equipped robot capable of global localization aided by a number of smaller, less well equipped devices that rely on the main robot for localization and thus must operate in close proximity to the main robot. A boustrophedon decomposition algorithm is developed that incorporates the motion, sensing and communication constraints imposed by the autonomous fleet. The approach is demonstrated in simulation using a real aquatic environment withe portions of the approach demonstrated using a fleet of real robots operating outdoors.