Position-based visual servoing for underwater docking of an autonomous underwater vehicle

An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) cannot operate for an extended amount of time due to limited energy supplied by battery embedded in its system. To prolong the AUV operation a docking station could be used so that the AUV can dock inside the station to recharge its battery. Several researches had been conducted for the docking of AUV using vision. Most of the research uses image-based visual servoing which focuses on features of the docking station displayed on image to guide the AUV. However, image features are highly non-linear function of camera pose. In this paper, position-based visual servoing had been proposed for the docking of AUV. Simulation result had been conducted and shows that the AUV arrived at the docking station successfully.