A stereo visual navigation method for docking autonomous underwater vehicles

Recovering and recharging autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) on a regular basis allows for long‐term underwater activities. This research provides a vision‐based navigation strategy for AUVs to independently identify and reconstruct the docking station (DS). The proposed framework includes a ligh...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of field robotics 2024-03, Vol.41 (2), p.374-395
Main Authors: Xu, Shuo, Jiang, Yanqing, Li, Ye, Wang, Bo, Xie, Tianqi, Li, Shuchang, Qi, Haodong, Li, Ao, Cao, Jian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
autonomous underwater vehicle
Autonomous underwater vehicles
Beacons
Cameras
Docking
docking station
Matching
Navigation
Pose estimation
stereo vision
visual guidance
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Recovering and recharging autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) on a regular basis allows for long‐term underwater activities. This research provides a vision‐based navigation strategy for AUVs to independently identify and reconstruct the docking station (DS). The proposed framework includes a light beacon detection approach, a filter‐based light beacon matching method, and a fusion pose estimation method for DS positioning. Four green LED light beacons are mounted symmetrically on the docking ring, enabling the stereo camera to observe them from close range. A method for detecting light beacons is proposed that assures detection accuracy by identifying false positives. On a single frame from a stereo camera, filter‐based matching follows the light beacons precisely. In addition, we construct a position estimate method that significantly improves accuracy and efficiency by consisting of analyzation and iteration. A series of virtual and real‐world experiments demonstrate that our methodology can provide AUVs with reliable docking navigation.
ISSN:1556-4959
1556-4967
DOI:10.1002/rob.22269