Experimental analysis of low‐altitude terrain following for hover‐capable flight‐style autonomous underwater vehicles

Abstract

Operating an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) in close proximity to terrain typically relies solely on the vehicle sensors for terrain detection, and challenges the manoeuvrability of energy efficient flight‐style AUVs. This paper gives new results on altitude tracking limits of such vehicles by using the fully understood environment of a lake to perform repeated experiments while varying the altitude demand, obstacle detection and actuator use of a hover‐capable flight‐style AUV. The results are analysed for mission success, vehicle risk and repeatability, demonstrating the terrain following capabilities of the overactuated AUV over a range of altitude tracking strategies and how these measures better inform vehicle operators. A major conclusion is that the effects of range limits, bias and false detections of the sensors used for altitude tracking must be fully accounted for to enable mission success. Furthermore it was found that switching between hover‐ and flight‐style actuations based on speed, whilst varying the operation speed, has advantages for performance improvement over combining hover‐ and flight‐style actuators at high speeds.

Guidance method of underwater vehicle for rugged seafloor observation in close proximity

“…While generally more expensive than optical cameras, acoustic sensors offer the advantage of providing information over a wider area, even in turbid seawater. Some methods for AUVs to observe the seafloor at close range based on a low‐cost MSIS have been proposed (McPhail et al, 2010; Schillai et al, 2019). These methods use an MSIS to detect obstacles on the vertical plane ahead of the AUV, enabling it to track the seafloor by adjusting its depth accordingly.…”

A Terrain-Following Control Method for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles with Single-Beam Sensor Configuration

“…Terrain following is one of the most significant methods to efficiently carry out the missions mentioned above [11,12]. In order to obtain high-resolution seabed topography and surface details from various sensors, an AUV has to descend to a low altitude and steadily maintain a specified height, although topographic data are usually not known in advance [13,14]. Additionally, an AUV needs to be able to avoid collision danger, even though the terrain may be rough sometimes.…”