Navigation Method of AUV to Target Point by Optical and Acoustic Sensor Switching Strategy

We propose a method that uses both optical and acoustic images to generate an optimal path and compensate for error while AUV visits to a target point. We used SURF detection algorithm to store more reliable images between a pair of optical and acoustic images at each trajectory point. We calculated and compared the reliability value of optical image and acoustic image by using a weight W and a bias b. Then we selected waypoints for the optimal visiting path. The accuracy of our image selection method was 75.13%, and processing a pair of optical and acoustic images takes 180 ms. This method will increase the accuracy of visiting navigation of AUV to any target points and will decrease the sensitivity to water conditions.