Autonomous Underwater Vehicles: Localization, Navigation, and Communication for Collaborative Missions

• Main Authors: Josué González-García, Alfonso Gómez-Espinosa, Enrique Cuan-Urquizo, Luis Govinda García-Valdovinos, Tomás Salgado-Jiménez, Jesús Arturo Escobedo Cabello
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-02-01
• Series: Applied Sciences
• Subjects: autonomous underwater vehicle(s); collaborative auvs; underwater localization
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/10/4/1256

Development of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) has permitted the automatization of many tasks originally achieved with manned vehicles in underwater environments. Teams of AUVs designed to work within a common mission are opening the possibilities for new and more complex applications. In underwater environments, communication, localization, and navigation of AUVs are considered challenges due to the impossibility of relying on radio communications and global positioning systems. For a long time, acoustic systems have been the main approach for solving these challenges. However, they present their own shortcomings, which are more relevant for AUV teams. As a result, researchers have explored different alternatives. To summarize and analyze these alternatives, a review of the literature is presented in this paper. Finally, a summary of collaborative AUV teams and missions is also included, with the aim of analyzing their applicability, advantages, and limitations.