This chapter reviews the concept of pose-graph simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) for underwater navigation. We show that pose-graph SLAM is a generalized framework that can be applied to many diverse underwater navigation problems in marine robotics. We highlight three specific examples as applied in the areas of autonomous ship hull inspection and multi-vehicle cooperative navigation.

In this paper some selected aspects of both reliability and safety with respect to underwater vehicles, particularly underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) are dealt with. A Man-Technology-Environment system is presented. A reliability-related structure and the system of such a vehicle is discussed and the issue of selecting a reliability level is deliberated.

When using underwater autonomous vehicles, it is important to localize them. Underwater localization is very approximate. As a result, instead of a single location x, we get a set X of possible locations of a vehicle. Based on this set of possible locations, we need to find the range of possible values of the corresponding objective function f(x). For missions on the ocean floor, it is benefici...

A semi-autonomous unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), named VSOR, is being developed at the Laboratory of Sensors and Actuators at the University of Sao Paulo. The vehicle has been designed to provide inspection and intervention capabilities in specific missions in deep water oil fields. With the aim of identifying the hydrodynamic motion parameters, such as, drag coefficient and added mass iner...

Due to the great technological improvement obtained in the last decades, it became possible to use robotic vehicles for underwater exploration. During the execution of a certain task with the robotic vehicle, the operator needs to monitor and control a number of parameters. If some of these parameters, as for instance the position and the orientation of the vehicle, could be controlled automati...

The extraction of reliable features is a key issue for autonomous underwater vehicle navigation. Imaging sonars can produce acoustic images of the surroundings of the vehicle. Despite of the noise, the phantom echoes and reflections, we believe that they are a good source for features since they can work in turbid water where other sensors like vision fail. Moreover, they can cover wide areas i...

The Phoenix autonomous underwater collaboration with other scientists interested in either vehicle (AUV) is a robot for student research in robot or virtual world. Repeated validation of shallow-water sensing and control (Figure 1). Phoenix simulation extensions through real-world testing is neutrally buoyant at 387 pounds (176 kg) with a hull remains essential. Details are provided on process ...

There are concerns about the impact that global warming will have on our environment, and which will inevitably result in expanding deserts and rising water levels. While a lot of underwater vehicles are utilized, AUVs (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) were considered and chosen, as the most suitable tool for conduction survey concerning these global environmental pro...

The extraction of reliable features is a key issue for autonomous underwater vehicle navigation. Imaging sonars can produce acoustic images of the surroundings of the vehicle. Despite of the noise, the phantoms and reflections, we believe that they are a good source for features since they can work in turbid water where other sensors like vision fail. Moreover, they can cover wide areas increme...

This paper presents the design of the electronics, the sensor data processing scheme and the implementation of the behaviour based control for a small autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). The robot has a volume of 12dm and is used as a demonstration vehicle for underwater ai-technologies. The thruster configuration allows the μAUV to hover and its active light sensors enable obstacle detection ...