This paper presents a digital resolved acceleration control method for coordinated motion control of an underwater vehicle equipped with manipulators. Using this method, in spite of large position and attitude errors of the underwater vehicle, good control performances of the end-tips of the manipulators to follow a pre-planned trajectory can be achieved. In this work, theoretical work of the p...

Conventional underwater sensors are not well suited to the task of aiding unmanned underwater vehicles to hover. These sensors suffer from several drawbacks such as low sampling rates, low resolution, complexity of operations, drift and cost. Underwater video cameras, however, can provide local measurements of position with respect to a local object. Underwater vision presents several challenge...

In the procedure of designing an underwater vehicle or robot, its maneuverability and controllability must be simulated and tested, before the product is finalized for manufacturing. Since the hydrodynamic forces and moments highly affect the dynamic and maneuverability of the system, they must be estimated with a reasonable accuracy. In this study, hydrodynamic coefficients of an autonomous un...

The Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Laboratory (AUV Lab) at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is currently building and testing a new, general purpose and inexpensive 6000 meter capable Hovering Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (HAUV), the ‘ODYSSEY IV class’. The vehicle is intended for rapid deployments, potentially with minimal navigation, thus supporting episodic dives for explorato...

An autonomous underwater vehicle is supposed to find its trajectory, systematically. It can be obtained by using genetic programming for multi-criterion optimization of the set of alternative paths. For assessment of an underwater vehicle trajectory, three crucial criteria can be used: a total length of a path, a smoothness of a trajectory, and a measure of safety.

The purpose of a data acquisition system is to provide reliable and timely information. The received information can be then analyzed in real-time or remotely to assess the state of the measured environment. Similarly, for an autonomous underwater navigation system it is critical to analyze the data received from the inertial measurement unit and other acoustic sensors to calculate its position...

In an ongoing research project an autonomous underwater vehicle is to be built that will detect, localize, and avoid objects by means of a fully passive sensory system. Using hot-wire anemometry it measures local water velocities at the vehicle’s hull and thus mimics the lateral-line system of fish and many amphibians. Fish often use the lateral-line system as their only means for navigation, e...

A fuzzy logic based general purpose modular control architecture is presented for underwater vehicle autonomous navigation, control and collision avoidance. Three levels of fuzzy controllers comprising the sensor fusion module, the collision avoidance module and the motion control module are derived and implemented. No assumption is made on the specific underwater vehicle type, on the amount of...

The Searazor is a novel underwater vehicle designed for underwater inspection and maintenance of ships and underwater structures. In this paper, the vehicle’s dynamic characteristics and control scheme are studied. A series of sub-models, representing the major components of the vehicle, are developed in a bond graph environment. A servo control system that governs the attitude and steering is ...