In this research we present a Kalman filtering-based motion state estimation method for an autonomous vehicle-trailer system by fusing multiple sensor data, which can be applied directly to autonomous navigation and motion control. The autonomous vehicle-trailer system consists of an autonomous vehicle and a passive trailer which are coupled by a trailer hitch. Our vehicle-trailer system is equ...

In order to properly operate an autonomous vehicle navigation system, it is important that the vehicle and sensor models of an autonomous vehicle are defined by an accurate parameter set. This paper presents a technique for identifying parameters of an autonomous vehicle using multi-objective optimisation, which enables the identification process without introducing additional parameters. A mul...

Delphin2 is a hover capable torpedo style Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), developed at the University of Southampton to provide a test bed for research in marine robotics, primarily to enhance the manoeuvring capability of AUVs. This paper describes the mechanical design of the vehicle and its software architecture. The performance of the vehicle is presented as well as preliminary finding...

Assuring safety of autonomous vehicles operating in an open environment requires reliable situation awareness, action planning and prediction of actions of other vehicles and objects. Factors that also have to be considered are certainty and completeness of available information and trust in information sources and other entities. The paper discusses the problem of autonomous vehicle safety ass...

The coordination of multiple autonomous vehicles into convoys or platoons is expected on our highways in the near future. However, before such platoons can be deployed, the new autonomous behaviours of the vehicles in these platoons must be certified. An appropriate representation for vehicle platooning is as a multiagent system in which each agent captures the “autonomous decisions” carried ou...

The paper presents a simple method of tuning a PD controller for controlling the depth of an autonomous underwater vehicle. The non-linear dynamics of the depth of the vehicle are linearised and approximated as an integrating process with deadtime. The PD controller tuning is then done using gain margin specifications. Keywords—Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, Dead-time, integrating process, PD c...

The Norwegian Experimental Remotely Operated Vehicle (NEROV) is described. The vehicle is designed and built at the Department of Engineering Cybernetics , The Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH). The NEROV vehicle is an unmanned autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) especially designed for testing advanced intelligent and conventional control algorithms. The vehicle is autonomous with respec...

Autonomous vehicles are likely to require sophisticated software controllers to maintain vehicle performance in the presence of vehicle faults. The test and evaluation of complex software controllers is expected to be a challenging task. The goal of this effort is to apply machine learning techniques from the field of artificial intelligence to the general problem of evaluating an intelligent c...

Abstract: To provide a conventional autonomous underwater vehicle with gliding capability, we assume a moving battery and a buoyancy bag installed in a torpedo shaped autonomous underwater vehicle. We develop a mathematical model for the underwater vehicle and derive a stable gliding condition for it. Then an LQR controller is designed to control the zigzag depth of the vehicle, where the deriv...