Intervention AUV

About: Intervention AUV is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 980 publications have been published within this topic receiving 14130 citations.

A PFM-based control architecture for a visually guided underwater cable tracker to achieve navigation in troublesome scenarios

Abstract: Nowadays, the surveillance and inspection of underwater installations, such as power or telecommunication cables and pipelines, are carried out by trained operators who, from the surface, control a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) with cameras mounted over it. This is a tedious, time-consuming and expensive task, prone to errors mainly because of loss of attention or fatigue of the operator and also due to the typical low quality of seabed images. In this study, a control architecture based on Potential Field Methods (PFM) for visually guiding an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) to detect and track a cable, or pipeline, laid on the seabed is presented. Additionally, a solution to the typical trapping problem linked to this kind of control systems is proposed. The efficiency of the solution is evaluated and compared against other popular strategies appearing in the literature. A 3D simulation environment which incorporates the hydrodynamic model of a real underwater vehicle called GARBI has been used with this purpose.

An advanced Autonomous Underwater Vehicle design and control strategy

Abstract: In this paper, an advanced design of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) is presented. The design is driven only by four water pumps. The different power combinations of the four motors provides the force and moment for propulsion and maneuvering. No control surfaces are needed in this design, which make the manufacturing cost of such a vehicle minimal and more reliable. Based on the propulsion method of the vehicle, a nonlinear AUV dynamic model is studied. This nonlinear model is linearized at the operation point. A control strategy of the AUV is proposed including attitude control and auto-pilot design. Simulation results for the attitude control loop are presented to validate this approach.

A Hybrid Sonar Algorithm for Submersible Cars to Verify the Location of Senders

Abstract: In military applications, underwater vehicles do not communicate with each other. They use sonar systems to detect enemy vehicles that are trying hard not to make any sound or noise. In autonomous/unmanned underwater vehicles (AUVs, UUVs), sonar systems are usually employed to detect or avoid underwater obstacles. With the emergence of sQuba, a new breed of car that can be driven both on land and underwater, we explore a new sonar problem. How can an underwater moving vehicle verify the location of senders? As conventional sonar techniques are not appropriate for our purpose, we present a hybrid sonar algorithm that can help underwater vehicles locate target vehicles.

Pipefish AUV: The flight style AUV delivering small, purpose built, hover capable AUVs

Abstract: A current challenge for AUV missions is to combine long endurance with high manoeuvrability. The proposed Pipefish AUV is a long endurance AUV capable of high quality survey missions that can deliver multiple hover capable AUVs to sites of interest. The Pipefish AUV and the small vehicles can perform cooperative tasks and reach remote locations without the need for a monitoring surface vessel. It is shown that an endurance of six days can be achieved, whilst transporting smaller AUVs of a volume of almost two cubic metres.

The tv-trackmeter and the supervisory-controlled underwater telemanipulation system

Abstract: The paper presents two systems developed by Tecnomare aiming at increasing the efficiency in performing underwater telemanipulation tasks. The first system is a non contact measuring device which, on the basis of stereoscopic TV image processing can provide three dimensional coordinates of points imaged by means of a stereo TV camera, even in case of relative motion between cameras and working scene. Current and future applications of this system are relevant to underwater robotics, navigation, surveys, archaeology and biology studies.