Real time in-situ measurements are essential for monitoring and understanding physical and biochemical changes within ocean environments. Phenomena of interest usually display spatial and temporal dynamics that span different scales. As a result, a combination of different vehicles, sensors, and advanced control algorithms are required in oceanographic monitoring systems. In this study our grou...

Significant advances in various relevant science and engineering disciplines have propelled the development of more advanced, yet reliable and practical underwater vehicles. A great array of vehicle types and applications has been produced along with a wide range of innovative approaches for enhancing the performance of unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV). These recent advances enable the extensi...

Autonomous underwater vehicles are gradually being recognized as key assets in future combat systems. Central to this attitude is the realization that teams of vehicles acting in concerted fashion can accomplish tasks that are either too costly or simply outside the range of capabilities of single vehicles. The VSW-MCM target reacquisition problem is the primary driver of underwater multi-agent...

In the last years, a challenging field of autonomous robotics is represented by cooperative mobile manipulation carried out in different environments (aerial, terrestrial and underwater environment). As regards cooperative manipulation of Intervention-Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (I-AUVs), this application is characterized by a more complex environment of work, compared to the terrestrial or ...

This paper presents coordination and data fusion methods for teams of vehicles performing target search tasks without guaranteed communication. A fully distributed team planning algorithm is proposed that utilizes limited shared information as it becomes available, and data fusion techniques are introduced for merging estimates of the target’s position from vehicles that regain contact after lo...

This paper focuses on a critical component of the situational awareness (SA), the neural control of autonomous constant depth flight of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). Autonomous constant depth flight is a challenging but important task for AUVs to achieve high level of autonomy under adverse conditions. The fundamental requirement for constant depth flight is the knowledge of the depth...

The use of commercially available autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) has increased during the last fifteen years. While they are mainly used for routine survey missions, there is a set of applications that nowadays can be only addressed by manned submersibles or work-class remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) equipped with teleoperated arms: the intervention applications. To allow these heavy v...

This paper presents a comprehensive overview of recent developments in formation control multiple autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). Several commonly used structures and approaches for coordination are listed, the advantages deficiencies each method discussed. The difficulties confronted synthesis practical AUVs system clarified analyzed terms characteristic AUVs, adverse environments, comm...