Autonomous underwater vehicles for survey operations: theory and practice

This paper provides an overview of some of the missions and vehicle control functionality being considered for the rapidly developing technology of autonomous underwater vehicles. Spawned from the availability of small embedded processors and the increasing capabilities of underwater communications, these small untethered vehicles are expected to play a role as a force multiplier in expanding our ability to survey ocean areas. Missions expected to become viable in the near future include environmental monitoring, underwater inspection, geological survey as well as the current focus on military missions in mine countermeasures. This paper gives an outline of the functionality required of such vehicles and their relation to intelligent control technology, some implementation details, and the future needs for research that continue to drive our field toward a practical reality