Date of Award
2024
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Ocean Engineering
Department
Ocean Engineering
First Advisor
Mingxi Zhou
Abstract
Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) are potential candidates for mapping icebergs in a safer manner compared to using manned ships. However, iceberg drifts and irregular contour pose challenges for AUVs when maneuvering around the iceberg at a constant stand-off distance autonomously. AUV-Based iceberg mapping problem can be divided into two sub-problems. First, to circumnavigate the iceberg and second, to reconstruct the 3D shape. In this thesis, we focus on developing the autonomy for circumnavigating around a drifting iceberg. We present a novel approach for generating guidance path for an AUV based on an Occupancy Grid Map (OGM) constructed using the measurements from a Mechanical Scanning Imaging Sonar (MSIS). The method consists of three components: MSIS data pre-processing, path generation and waypoint selection, to realize the autonomous iceberg wall following behaviour. The presented method is generalized and can be utilized for other online wall-following applications. The autonomy system is validated in a simulation environment where the AUV has successfully circumnavigated different icebergs at desired standoff distance of 20 meters with overall root-mean-square-error less than 4m. The wall following has also been tested in real environment where the AUV is guided to follow a wharf at a stand-off distance of 6.5m.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Jacob, Tony, "ACTIVE SONAR-DRIVEN ICEBERG WALL FOLLOWING PATH PLANNER FOR AUTONOMOUS UNDERWATER VEHICLES" (2024). Open Access Master's Theses. Paper 2562.
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/theses/2562
