Robust Real-Time AUV Self-Localization Based on Stereo Vision-Inertia

Abstract

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) play an important role in deep-sea exploration, in which AUV selflocalization is a key component. However, due to poor visibility caused by challenging marine environments, AUVs are often equipped with high-cost and heavy-weight acoustic sensors to accomplish localization tasks. We propose a robust real-time AUV self-localization method based on stereo camera and inertial sensor, which merges point and diagonal features, as well as inertial measurements to overcome the challenges of poor visibility. Our method also includes an underwater loop detection algorithm based on the combination of points and diagonal segments, which can extract effective binary descriptors in lowtextured underwater scenarios. Furthermore, we develop an AUV self-localization system based on a real-time, portable, low-cost, and small volume sensor suite. Finally, we test the proposed method in a real underwater environment using our sensor suite, and the experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method under dramatically changing underwater scenarios.

Binocular vision measurement system based on corrected binocular rectification

“…The spatial coordinates of the object point can be calculated using (3) based on these relationships. 1 1…”

“…With the advancement of robotic perception technology, the demand for non-contact automated measurements has increased, particularly in applications such as localization measurements [1,2] , object recognition [3] , 3D reconstruction, and autonomous driving [4] . Stereo vision, emulating the binocular vision of humans and animals, is widely applied to obtain spatial coordinates of measured objects.…”

An Underwater Localization Method Based on Visual SLAM for the Near-Bottom Environment

“…Deep-sea mining and seafloor oil and gas exploration utilized by AUVs are popular topics to research [1][2][3]. Wang uses a robust Real-Time AUV Self-Localization method for deep-sea exploration [4]. Hong presents a portable autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) named Shark for vision-based underwater inspection [5].…”

A High-Precision Positioning Method for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles with Communication Delays

“…And AUVs play a vital role in ocean information acquisition, requiring robust and reliable navigation performance [1,2]. For complex and dynamic marine environments, self-localization function of AUVs is the foundation for accomplishing potential applications [3]. At present, there are three main wireless communication methods: radio communication, optical communication and acoustic communication.…”