Tracking of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles using an Autonomous Surface Vehicle with ranger interrogator system

This paper presents a tracking algorithm of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) using an Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) equipped with a ranger interrogator system. Worldwide, there has been increasing interest in the use of ASVs to execute missions of increasing complexity without direct supervision by human operators. A key-enabling element for the execution of such missions is the availability of advanced systems for motion control of ASVs. The problems of motion control can be roughly classified into three groups: i) point stabilization, where the goal is to stabilize a vehicle at a given target point with a desired orientation; ii) trajectory tracking, where the vehicle is required to track a time parameterized reference; and iii) path following, where the objective is for the vehicle to converge to and follow a desired geometric path, without an explicit timing law assigned to it. The proposed algorithm allows the ASV to follow after the AUV without the need to know the actual position of the platform. Additionally, the algorithm allows computing the possible location of the AUV, which can be used to reduce the error of AUV navigation.