Dynamic Data-Driven Application System for Flow Field Prediction with Autonomous Marine Vehicles

Abstract

Efficiently predicting high-resolution and accurate flow fields through networked autonomous marine vehicles (AMVs) is crucial for diverse applications. Nonetheless, a research gap exists in the seamless integration of data-driven flow modeling, real-time data assimilation from flow sensing, and the optimization of AMVs’ sensing strategies, culminating in a closed-loop dynamic data-driven application system (DDDAS). This article presents a novel DDDAS that systematically integrates flow modeling, data assimilation, and adaptive flow sensing using networked AMVs. It features a hybrid data-driven flow model, uniting a neural network for trend prediction and a Gaussian process model for residual fitting. The neural network architecture is designed using knowledge extracted from historic flow data through tidal harmonic analysis, enhancing its capability in flow prediction. The Kriged ensemble transform Kalman filter is introduced to assimilate spatially correlated flow-sensing data from AMVs, enabling effective model learning and accurate spatiotemporal flow prediction, while forming the basis for optimizing AMVs’ flow-sensing paths. A receding horizon strategy is proposed to implement non-myopic optimal path planning, and a distributed strategy of implementing Monte Carlo tree search is proposed to solve the resulting large-scale tree searching-based optimization problem. Computer simulations, employing underwater gliders as sensing networks, demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed DDDAS in predicting depth-averaged flow in nearshore ocean environments.