Control And Optical Sensing In Underwater Robotic Vehicles (URVS)

Abstract

Underwater robotic vehicles ( URVs) are an important tool for various undersea tasks, because they have greater speed, endurance, and depth capability than human divers. With the increased utilization of the vehicles in subsea applications, the development of autonomous vehicles becomes highly desirable to enhance efficiency of the operation. However, engineering problems associated with the high density, nonuniform and un­ structured seawater environment and the nonlinear dynamic be­ havior of the vehicle make a high degree of autonomy difficult to achieve. The control and sensory system is oue of the most critical subsystems to increase autonomy of the vehicle. In this paper, the recent results of our research efforts for the de­ velopment of an autonomous underwater robotic vehicle in the areas of the vehicle control and optical sensing are presented.