Small size AUVs: operation results and new mission concepts 1

Abstract

The number of successful missions with autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) has been increasing steadily during the last few years, validating this emerging technology as an efficient tool for underwater sampling. At the same time it has served to envisage their operation in more demanding scenarios. This paper presents results from environment monitoring missions with an AUV and new mission concepts for the operation of one or multiple AUVs. These new concepts are the natural evolution of previous work and also the response to the requirements of some of the identified scenarios. For each type of mission, solutions for navigation, control, coordination, and communications are presented.

Coordinated Operation of Autonomous Underwater and Surface Vehicles

“…On the other hand, during a typical mission, the AUV will try to describe a sequence of straight lines, according to an a priori mission plan, or defined on-the-fly in adaptive sampling missions [6].…”

AUV navigation and guidance in a moving acoustic network

“…However, as new missions are envisaged [7], so there are new requirements as far as navigation is concerned.…”