Development of P-SURO II hybrid AUV and its experimental study

P-SURO II is a hybrid AUV which can be operated in both of ROV and AUV modes. The AUV mode is supposed to carry out some of underwater missions which are difficult to be accomplished by ROV mode due to its tether cable. To complete the underwater missions such as inspection and maintenance of complex structures in AUV mode, the vehicle is required to have high level of autonomy including obstacle avoidance, autonomous navigation, and so on. In this paper, we will discuss some of systematic and algorithmic issues in the development of such kind hybrid vehicles. Experimental studies on the development of underwater hybrid inertial navigation system and SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) method in a certain water tank environment are also discussed.