At the beginning of my PhD, I led a team of Undergraduate students to carry out a demo that illustrates how a swarm of UUVs can relay an optical signal underwater between two points. The experiment took place in a 2m deep water tank. I modified and controlled two submarine models to reflect the laser beam stemming from a laser pointer at the bottom of the tank to the desired location. Their position is obtained with image processing using stationary cameras.

I developed guidance, navigation, and control systems to steer UUVs such that a permanent optical network can be set up permanently between the deep sea and the surface despite the finite battery’s lifetime of the UUVs. The guidance system combines a decentralized model predictive control (D-MPC) with graph theory to compute the trajectory of each agent relaying the optical signal as well as of redundant agents forming local leader–follower formations with each relay acting as leader of its own subfleet. 

I conducted extensive customer discovery (200+ interviews) to explore and validate business models that could lead to the commercialization of my PhD research. I found that swarms of UUVs equipped with laser terminals could meet a need in the maritime industry to obtain frequent hull biofouling data to reduce carbon emissions and stop the spread of invasive species. The swarm quickly sweeps the hull from bow to stern when a ship gets into port.