Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Navigation in Structured Environment

Abstract

With the increase in developments in underwater infrastructure, the demand for development of autonomous vehicle navigation system in structured environment is also increased. However, the localization in a structured environment is a challenging problem due to signal uncertainties and distortions. In order to overcome these problems, we propose the camera and sonar aided integrated navigation system. In the proposed sensor-fusion-based localization scheme, the AUV estimates its own position continuously using artificial landmarks. The artificial landmarks for image sonar is deployed along the path to guide the AUV to the structure. The active vision markers are installed on the jacket structure, and they function as both landmarks and waypoints. This approach prevents the inherent drift of dead-reckoning velocities and collision with structures. The proposed approach was verified through a real sea experiment. The AUV conducted the full autonomous navigation from the dock to the jacket structure, and then returned to the dock without collision or significant localization error. These results show the feasibility of full autonomous navigation in a structured environment.