This chapter discusses the development of a short range acoustic communication channel model and its properties for the design and evaluation of MAC (Medium Access Control) and routing protocols, to support network enabled Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV). The growth of underwater operations has required data communication between various heterogeneous underwater and surface based communica...

Spawned by recent advances in technology, widespread attention has been focused on the coordination of multiple autonomous vehicles. In numerous mission scenarios, the concept of a group of agents cooperating to achieve a determined goal is very attractive when compared with the solution of one single, heavily equipped vehicle, as it exhibits better performance in terms of efficiency, flexibili...

{ Diierent sensing techniques have been used for a long time in the development of remote operated vehicles (ROVs) and, in the recent years, autonomous underwater vehicles, (AUVs). Sonar has been the most popular choice in what concerns depth information or obstacle detection in most of the existing systems. Vision, however is a powerful sensing modality and could be used in many tasks where ac...

This paper reports the formulation and evaluation of a centralized extended Kalman filter designed for a novel navigation system for underwater vehicles. The navigation system employs Doppler sonar, depth sensors, synchronous clocks, and acoustic modems to achieve simultaneous acoustic communication and navigation. The use of a single moving reference beacon eliminates the requirement for the u...

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) have successfully performed complex behaviors in the service of military objectives. These behaviors have involved individual vehicles, but multiple vehicles operating autonomously and collaboratively are required to engage in open environment missions such as mine countermeasures (MCM). This requires that vehicles communicate with one another, exchanging i...

The research on underwater systems has gained an immense interest during the last decades with applications taken place in many fields such as exploration, investigation, repair, construction, etc. Hereby, control of underwater systems has emerged as a growing field of research. Underwater vehicles, in fact, accounted for 21% of the total number of service robots by the end of 2004, and are the...

Unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) are increasingly being used by civilian and defence operators for ever more complex and dangerous missions. This is due to the underlying characteristics of safety and cost effectiveness when compared to manned vehicles. UUVs require no human operator be subject to the conditions and dangers inherent in the underwater environment that the vehicle is exposed t...

About 70% of the surface of the Earth is covered by oceans, and the ocean space represents a vast chamber of natural resources. In order to explore and utilize these resources, humankind depends on developing and employing underwater vehicles, not least unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs). Today, UUVs encompass remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). The fir...

The research of Underwater Acoustic Networks (UANs) is attracting attention due to their important underwater applications for military and commercial purposes. Underwater wireless communication networks (UWCNs) consist of sensors and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) that interact, coordinate and share information with each other to carry out sensing and monitoring functions. In last sever...

The use of omnidirectional cameras underwater is enabling many new and exciting applications in multiple fields. Among these, the creation of virtual tours from omnidirectional image surveys is expected to have a large impact in terms of science and conservation outreach. These surveys can be performed by Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) that can cover...