A Generalizable Entity-Component-System Architecture for Underwater ROV Control

We present a novel software architecture for underwater Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) based on Entity Component System (ECS), a software architectural pattern mostly used in video game development. We introduce two key innovations: 1) A modular, cross-platform architecture that seamlessly synchronizes state between the ROV and surface station, and 2) a generalized thruster control system capable of adapting to arbitrary thruster configurations. Unlike existing ROV software solutions that tend to be tightly coupled to specific hardware configurations, our approach enables flexible reconfiguration and robust control across different physical setups. We experimentally validate our system on a modified BlueROV2 platform in a swimming pool, demonstrating successful control across four different thruster configurations with attitude errors remaining below 2° for yaw and below 4° for roll and pitch control. The results confirm that our architecture can effectively maintain control performance even when thrusters are disabled or reconfigured, providing a foundation for adaptable underwater robotic systems.