The advancement of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) technology

An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) test-bed was jointly upgraded by DSTO and the University of Adelaide as an introduction of advanced technologies into its system. This AUV will serve as a platform to support further research dealing with underwater robotic operations. The group working on this project incorporated off-the-shelf hardware together with well-developed control algorithms to build an efficient AUV embedded system. The presented system consists of five main modules including command, navigation, communication, and instrumentation (internal and external sensors) and machine-vision. This paper presents an overview of the AUV development process which covers project stages, system development, system operation as well as test results from experimental trials which showcased the capability and functionality of the AUV.