Investigation of requirements and capabilities of next-generation mine warfare unmanned underwater vehicles

Systems Engineering Capstone Project ReportThis report identifies the system characteristics that have the largest impact on mine counter-measure (MCM) unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) performance. Model-based systems engineering (MBSE) tools, including functional flow block diagrams and functional hierarchies, are used to logically define MCM UUV operations and support the development of alternative concepts of operations. A discrete event simulation is used to model operations for a design of experiments selected set of system characteristic combinations. Statistical analysis is applied to simulation outputs to identify UUV design characteristics with the most significant impact on the time taken for an MCM UUV to perform the detect and classify mission. The main conclusions of this study are that the most important system characteristics for MCM UUVs are UUV travel speed and sensor width, and that bandwidth limitations for subsurface communications eliminate expected benefits of constant communication between UUVs and their parent vessels.http://archive.org/details/investigationofr1094556878Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited