Opportunity Objective

To develop and transition fundamental research in autonomous decision-making, coordinated control, and advanced perception to solve critical challenges in the maritime domain. This research aims to enable single and multi-vehicle systems—specifically Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) and Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs)—to operate reliably in communication-constrained and dynamic environments. 

Research Description

The Naval Research Laboratory is seeking a postdoctoral associate to conduct high-impact research at the intersection of Maritime Autonomy, Artificial Intelligence, and Robotics. Modern naval operations require systems that can transition from simple automation to complex, mission-aware autonomy. This opportunity is broad and could cover the broad spectrum of the autonomy stack, including planning, control, tracking, and sensor fusion, with a particular focus on the following three pillars:

• Integrated Task and Motion Planning (TAMP): We seek to bridge the gap between discrete mission-level logic and continuous trajectory optimization. Research should focus on how vehicles can autonomously decompose high-level mission objectives into feasible, collision-free motions while accounting for the complex hydrodynamics of underwater environments.

• Decentralized Coordination & Control: For multi-vehicle swarms or teams, we are interested in scalable, decentralized control architectures that maintain mission integrity despite intermittent communications. This includes distributed optimization and multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) for collaborative behaviors.

• Persistent Multi-Target Tracking & Sensor Fusion: Developing robust algorithms for detecting, classifying, and tracking multiple maritime entities using heterogeneous sensor suites (sonar, radar, EO/IR). Research should address data association challenges in cluttered, high-noise littoral environments.

Autonomy; Planning; Robotics; Artificial Intelligence; Machine Learning; Control Systems; Tracking; Fusion; Signal Processing

citizenship

Open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents

level

Open to Postdoctoral applicants

Additional Benefits

relocation

Awardees who reside more than 50 miles from their host laboratory and remain on tenure for at least six months are eligible for paid relocation to within the vicinity of their host laboratory.

health insurance

A group health insurance program is available to awardees and their qualifying dependents in the United States.