Initial results of cooperative AUV exploration in a high-fidelity simulation using real-world data from Monte da Guia, Azores

An algorithm for distributed exploration in 3D is presented which is integrated into a complete control infrastructure for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) containing sensors, mapping, navigation, and control of actuators. The robots cooperate to produce a common map, which is then used to explore the environment. In order to ensure the building of the common map, the algorithm always keeps the robots within communication range of each other. The method is based on a greedy optimization strategy which uses a heuristic utility function which makes it computationally efficient but it can also lead to local minimums. However, related deadlocks can be easily detected during the exploration process and there is an efficient strategy to recover from them. An environment based on real world data is created in a high fidelity simulator which takes into account the dynamics of the robot, and simulates the required sensors. The effect of the sensor range and the number of robots on the algorithm is investigated.