Chinmay Kulkarni, a second year graduate student, has been selected to receive a SIAM Student Travel Award to attend the SIAM Conference on Applications of Dynamical Systems (DS17), to be held from May 21 to 25, 2017, at the Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort in Snowbird, Utah, USA.

We integrate data-driven ocean modeling with the stochastic Dynamically Orthogonal (DO) level-set optimization methodology to compute and study energy-optimal paths, speeds, and headings for ocean vehicles in the Middle-Atlantic Bight (MAB) region. We hindcast the energy-optimal paths from among exact time-optimal paths for the period 28 August 2006 to 9 September 2006. To do so, we first obtain a data-assimilative multiscale re-analysis, combining ocean observations with implicit two-way nested multiresolution primitive-equation simulations of the tidal-to-mesoscale dynamics in the region. Second, we solve the reduced-order stochastic DO level-set partial differential equations (PDEs) to compute the joint probability of minimum arrival-time, vehicle-speed time-series, and total energy utilized. Third, for each arrival time, we select the vehiclespeed time-series that minimize the total energy utilization from the marginal probability of vehicle-speed and total energy. The corresponding energy-optimal path and headings are obtained through a particle backtracking equation. Theoretically, the present methodology is PDE-based and provides fundamental energy-optimal predictions without heuristics. Computationally, it is three- to four-orders of magnitude faster than direct Monte Carlo methods. For the missions considered, we analyze the effects of the regional tidal currents, strong wind events, coastal jets, shelfbreak front, and other local circulations on the energy-optimal paths. Results showcase the opportunities for vehicles that intelligently utilize the ocean environment to minimize energy usage, rigorously integrating ocean forecasting with optimal control of autonomous vehicles.

In this paper a reachability-based approach is adopted to deal with the pursuit-evasion dierential game between one evader and multiple pursuers in the presence of dynamic environmental disturbances (e.g., winds, sea currents). Conditions for the game to be terminated are given in terms of reachable set inclusions. Level set equations are defined and solved to generate the forward reachable sets of the pursuers and the evader. The time-optimal trajectories and the corresponding optimal strategies are sub- sequently retrieved from these level sets. The pursuers are divided into active pursuers, guards, and redundant pursuers according to their respec- tive roles in the pursuit-evasion game. The proposed scheme is implemented on problems with both simple and realistic time-dependent flow fields, with and without obstacles.