Purpose – The main purpose of this paper is to investigate two key elements of localization and mapping of Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), i.e. to overview various sensors and algorithms used for underwater localization and mapping, and to make suggestions for future research. Design/methodology/approach – The authors first review various sensors and algorithms used for AUVs in the terms o...

The objective of this paper is to present a downsized prototype of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) designed with the idea of dealing with cooperative tasks involving multiple agents. The entire system has been designed for marine and underwater environmental surveillance and protection. The agents provide an interesting point in the surveillance of shallow coastal waters and shallow wate...

A vast amount of research into autonomous underwater navigation has, and is, being conducted around the world. However, typical research and commercial platforms have limited autonomy and are generally unable to navigate efficiently within coral reef environments without tethers and significant external infrastructure. This paper outlines the development and presents experimental results into t...

Autonomy of an underwater vehicle is in the main attributable to the design of a suitable guidance and control system. Generally, the control system is developed and tested first in simulation studies using a model of the vessel to gain confidence in the approach being adopted. Therefore, plant identification is imperative to gain insight about the system. This paper is concerned with a practic...

We present an approach for navigating in unknown environments while, simultaneously, gathering information for inspecting underwater structures using an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). To accomplish this, we first use our pipeline for mapping and planning collision-free paths online, which endows an AUV with the capability to autonomously acquire optical data in close proximity. With that ...

A stable autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is essential for underwater survey activities. Previous studies have associated poor results in bathymetry survey and side-scan imaging with the vehicle’s unwanted roll motion. The problem is becoming more prominent as AUVs are smaller nowadays. This causes reduction in the metacentric height of the AUVs which affects the inherent self-stabilization ...

A nonlinear vision based tracking system is developed to provide estimates of the position and velocity of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) relative to an Autonomous Surface Craft (ASC). Nonlinear estimator design builds on the theory of linear parametrically varying (LPV) systems. The theoretical framework adopted provides a powerful tool for estimator regional stability and performance ...

Currently, research is underway at the Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech), to investigate the environmental impacts of oil development in the Prudhoe Bay region of the Beaufort Sea, along Alaska’s northern coast. Of particular interest are the impacts of construction of offshore gravel islands used for oil drilling and production. Construction of these islands may contribute to an i...

In this paper, we propose a novel distributed localization scheme LDB, a 3D localization scheme with directional beacons for Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks (UWA-SNs). LDB localizes sensor nodes using an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) as a mobile beacon sender. Mounted with a directional transceiver which creates conical shaped directional acoustic beam, the AUV patrols over the 3D dep...

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) speed and position control systems are subjected to an increased focus with respect to performance and safety due to their increased number of commercial and military application as well as research challenges in past decades, including underwater resources exploration, oceanographic mapping, undersea wreckage salvage, cable laying, geographical survey, coas...