We discuss the problem of active inspection of a marine structure by an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). The AUV must plan a path of sensing views that estimates the difference between two surfaces: one reconstructed from prior data, and one reconstructed online during inspection. We propose modeling the structure’s surface using non-parametric Bayesian regression, which allows for a number...

This research addresses the problem of coordinating multiple autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) operations. An intelligent mission executive has been created that uses multi-agent technology to control and coordinate multiple AUVs in communication deficient environments. By incorporating real time vehicle prediction, blackboard-based hierarchical mission plans, mission optimization and a distr...

This paper presents an adaptive nonlinear controller for diving control of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). So far, diving dynamics of an AUV has often been derived under various assumptions on the motion of the vehicle. Typically, the pitch angle of AUV has been assumed to be small in the diving plane. However, these kinds of assumptions may induce large modeling errors and further may ...

The maneuver characteristic of the most commonly used AUV integrated navigation systems was investigated in this paper. After analyzing the error cause of conversional used Kalman filter of SINS/DVL integrated navigation systems in maneuver state, a novel method was proposed which is to use the output of complex navigation systems to revise the SINS in real-time, and an improved adaptive Kalman...

recently, data collection from seabed by means of underwater wireless sensor networks (uwsn) has attracted considerable attention. autonomous underwater vehicles (auvs) are increasingly used as uwsns in underwater missions. events and environmental parameters in underwater regions have a stochastic nature. the target area must be covered by sensors to observe and report events. a ‘topology cont...

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 ...

This paper describes a two week deployment of the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Sirius on the Tasman Peninsula in SE Tasmania and in the Huon Marine Protected Area (MPA) to the South West of Hobart. The objective of the deployments described in this work were to document biological assemblages associated with rocky reef systems in shelf waters beyond normal diving depths. At each location...

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 ...

This paper describes the role of the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) Sirius on a research cruise to survey drowned reefs along the shelf edge of the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia. The primary function of the AUV was to provide georeferenced, high-resolution optical validation of seabed interpretations based on acoustic data. We describe the AUV capabilities and its operation i...

The Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) designed at the Mechanical Engineering Department of the University of Canterbury is in an early stage of development. With the design of the AUV completed, the primary focus now is to design control software. The control software has to be able to stabilize the vehicle at a desired position and let the vehicle follow a desired trajectory within a reasonabl...