Vision-based Frozen Surface Egress: A Docking Algorithm for the ENDURANCE AUV

Aniket Murarka, Gregory Kuhlmann, Shilpa Gulati, Mohan Sridharan, Christopher Flesher, and William C. Stone.
International Symposium on Unmanned Untethered Submersible Technology (UUST), 2009.

Abstract

This paper presents a vision-based docking algorithm for an autonomous underwater vehicle. This algorithm allows the AUV to egress through a hole in the frozen ice surface of a lake after reaching the approximate location through dead-reckoning. A light-detection algorithm performs a temporal analysis of images captured from an upward-facing camera to identify sources of illumination and track the blinking target light source. In the docking approach, the vehicle first moves in a spiral pattern to search the for the target, then centers it in its field of view, and finally ascends. The vision-based docking algorithm was implemented on the ENDURANCE AUV and tested during a four-week-long scientific mission to explore West Lake Bonney in Antarctica in December 2008. The algorithm was used to ascend in 10 missions and to descend in 8 missions through three-meter-deep melthole only slightly larger in diameter than the vehicle itself. In each instance, the vehicle was able to safely ascend or descend without coming into contact with the walls. Subsequent analysis of mission data reveals that the light tracking algorithm and docking behavior are indeed accurate and robust.

 
BibTeX 
 
@inproceedings{murarka-uust-09,
  author    = {A. Murarka and G. Kuhlmann and S. Gulati and C. Flesher and M. Sridharan 
               and W. C. Stone},
  title     = {Vision-based Frozen Surface Egress: A Docking Algorithm for the {ENDURANCE} {AUV}},
  booktitle = {International Symposium on Unmanned Untethered Submersible Technology (UUST)},
  year      = {2009}
}