Problem Based Learning Through Modeling and Simulation of Unmanned Vehicles

Problem based learning has been shown to increase student excitement and attention which will increase student understanding of course material and concepts. With the high cost of large scale underwater, land and air vehicles, the use of modeling and simulation capabilities becomes more important for university programs. Autonomous Unmanned Vehicle (AUV) Workbench was developed at the Naval Postgraduate School as a modeling and simulation environment to enable physics based real time simulation of autonomous vehicles, such as unmanned surface vehicles (USV), unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). Vehicle missions can also be replayed for further study. 1-5 At Texas A&M University-Kingsville and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, a lab exercise for multiple vehicles has been created for the students to illustrate waypoint navigation and control for unmanned surface and air vehicles. Two versions were developed, an abbreviated version for the freshman students in introductory courses at the two universities, and a more extensive one for the senior students at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. By enabling a visual representation of the effects of the control algorithm in the simulated actions, freshman students gain a larger scale understanding of more advanced theoretical concepts that they will learn during their junior and senior years, thereby allowing the students to gain insights into how the theory in various undergraduate classes may be used in applications. The seniors in the undergraduate linear controls course at Texas A&M University-Kingsville can investigate different controllers such as Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) in the AUV Workbench environment, thus enabling students to see how the control of the vehicle is affected as the controller is varied. System-of-Systems Engineering (SOSE) necessitates an increased sharing and interoperability of information. In support of mission-driven SOSE, a critical need exists to support science and technology research and education that provide increased coordination of activities supporting mission driven SOSE. The AUV Workbench simulation environment enhances the student’s understanding of modeling systems which in turn helps to continue addressing this need at the university educational level.