The overall objective of the DARPA Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) Program is to demonstrate technical feasibility of a beyond-state-of-the-art cognitive capability for trailing quiet diesel-electric submarines for long periods of time from an autonomous surface vehicle (ASV). It is anticipated that the threat submarine will employ countermeasures and counter-tactics, including the participation of additional potentially adversarial surface boats to break free from the ACTUV.
The dynamic nature of such counter-tactics can be addressed through the use of formal Adversarial Game Theory (AGT) techniques. The AGT pursuit-evasion model is best suited for the reacquire ACTUV mission modes, and the AGT leader-follower model is matched to the trail and track mode. For the leader-follower model, an iterative approach is being used that finds a Nash equilibrium for the normal form of game matrix followed by a further refinement of the ACTUV strategy produced by the Stackelberg equilibrium of the game tree that describes the dynamic situation. The system will be tested first on the water using surrogate boats, and then integrated onto the ACTUV platform for further at-sea testing.
