Obstacle avoidance of autonomous underwater vehicle based on improved balance of motion

An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) generally works in an unknown and complicated ocean environment, so it is essential for AUV to have the safe and reliable ability of autonomous obstacle avoidance. An intelligent obstacle avoidance method for AUV is introduced. The obstacle avoidance strategy based on the method can reflect the dynamic obstacle avoidance ability which combines local obstacle avoidance planning, motion control and hydrodynamic performance of underwater vehicle. The alert safety distance of AUV is computed based on underwater vehicle velocity information and the model based on balance point of motion is constructed. Considering the effects to the ability of obstacle avoidance of AUV, the velocity and energy information of AUV are introduced to obstacle avoidance strategy. Finally, the feasibility of the obstacle avoiding methods is verified by simulation test.