A Browser-Native Digital Test Range for Benchmarking 4D Ocean-Glider Planning Algorithms
2026-08-13 • Robotics
Robotics
AI summaryⓘ
The authors created a browser-based digital tool that simulates ocean-glider missions in a specific region without needing real vehicles or ocean conditions. This tool lets users design and test missions step-by-step, including route planning and environmental factors, producing consistent and comparable results. They tested multiple planning algorithms and showed how their tool can help evaluate and compare different strategies in a controlled, repeatable way. Their system also runs complex simulations directly in the browser, making it easier to experiment before actual deployments.
ocean glidermission planningsimulationObserving System Simulation Experiment (OSSE)bathymetrycurrent advectionbrowser-nativePyodideWebAssemblyroute specification
Authors
Edward Holmberg, Elias Ioup, Mahdi Abdelguerfi
Abstract
Repeated in-situ evaluation of ocean-glider planners requires scarce vehicles, operators, deployment and recovery resources, and ocean conditions that cannot be reset for competing algorithms. We present a guided, installation-free browser-native digital test range that transforms a selected region into a reproducible four-dimensional experiment. The system leads users from regional domain selection through mission-scoped bathymetry, time/depth forcing, science objectives, optional task decomposition, route specification, current-advected execution, observation generation, and scoring. Its primary contribution is a common plan-to-observation contract unifying vehicle, sensing, and evaluator assumptions across manual routes, transparent built-in algorithms, and imported classical or learned-planner outputs, while exported artifacts form dataset-ready records. A controlled Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) evaluates five classical planners in two episodes, three deterministic seeds, and a calibrated 60-hour horizon. All 54 missions completed and recovered without hard violations, while planner rankings and dive-policy effects revealed operational-scientific tradeoffs. An authentic public deployment supplied a field-referenced audit to scope current kinematic boundaries. Separately, source-locked GliderFlight 1.2.0 achieved native-to-browser parity through Pyodide/WebAssembly, establishing a pathway for high-fidelity multi-tier simulation. The resulting operational space is scientifically traceable and component-qualified for mission-scale pre-deployment experimentation.