Improvement of vision guided underwater docking for small AUV ISiMI

Abstract

Vision guided underwater docking algorithm for an AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle) and a small test-bed AUV named ISiMI have been developed in KORDI (Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute). Underwater experiments were conducted in the previous research. The developed algorithm was based on pure pursuit guidance law. There is an absence of compensation against environmental disturbance, especially ocean current. Moreover, no alignment of the AUV's heading with dock direction was applied. In this paper, we suggest a conceptual idea how to overcome these two problems.