Research on Auxiliary Decision-Making System for Manned Underwater Vehicle Damage Management Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning

In underwater navigation, MUVs risk damage from obstacles and equipment. Effective damage management supports timely decisions and maximizes functionality recovery. Existing approaches can be roughly categorized into rule-based reasoning, case-based reasoning and expert systems. However, the primary limitation of the existing approaches is their inability to adapt to dynamically changing scenarios. In this paper, an auxiliary decision-making system (ADMS) for manned underwater vehicle (MUV) damage management based on deep reinforcement learning (DRL) is proposed to address the problem of cabin flooding. This system is designed to provide auxiliary decision-making in emergency situations and help preserve MUV vitality. Furthermore, a comprehensive States–Actions cluster encompassing various damage management measures for real damage scenarios is constructed and digitized. Moreover, several novel reward functions are developed to ensure the DRL model obtains a safe strategy with ADMS operations. Finally, the MUV buoyancy and stability vitality evaluation criteria are defined and analyzed. The simulation results show that the auxiliary decision-making measures given by the ADMS in the damage state are effective and rational. The evaluation criterion for buoyancy vitality can exceed 38%, while the criterion for stability vitality can surpass 92%, with an optimal value exceeding 99%.