• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.567-580
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• 2024

Due to specificity in the underwater environment, the difficulty of detecting submarine and the threat of submarine are increasing. The probability of detecting a submarine can be increased by estimation submarine path and optimizing sonobuoy deployment. In this paper, marine data collection, dynamics of submarine, submarine tracking path modeling, acoustic wave propagation modeling, detection probability modeling are applied in the simulator as similar to reality as possible. A simulator is developed to design submarine path estimation and sonobuoy deployment optimization scenario and to check result according to the scenario.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.72-81
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• 2022

Maritime patrol aircraft is an efficient solution for detecting submarines at sea. The aircraft can only detect submarines by sonobuoy, but the number of buoy is limited. In this paper, we present the online sonobuoy deployment method for estimating the location of submarines. We use Gaussian process regression to estimate the submarine existence probability map, and Bayesian optimization to decide the next best position of sonobuoy. Further, we show the performance of the proposed method by simulation.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.214-224
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• 2024

Sonobuoys are disposable devices that utilize sound waves for information gathering, detecting engine noises, and capturing various acoustic characteristics. They play a crucial role in accurately detecting underwater targets, making them effective detection systems in anti-submarine warfare. Existing sonobuoy deployment methods in multistatic systems often rely on fixed patterns or heuristic-based rules, lacking efficiency in terms of the number of sonobuoys deployed and operational time due to the unpredictable mobility of the underwater targets. Thus, this paper proposes an optimal sonobuoy placement strategy for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to overcome the limitations of conventional sonobuoy deployment methods. The proposed approach utilizes reinforcement learning in a simulation-based experimental environment that considers the movements of the underwater targets. The Unity ML-Agents framework is employed, and the Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) algorithm is utilized for UAV learning in a virtual operational environment with real-time interactions. The reward function is designed to consider the number of sonobuoys deployed and the cost associated with sound sources and receivers, enabling effective learning. The proposed reinforcement learning-based deployment strategy compared to the conventional sonobuoy deployment methods in the same experimental environment demonstrates superior performance in terms of detection success rate, deployed sonobuoy count, and operational time.