The State of Art of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles
in Current and Future Decades
Basant Kumar Sahu, Student Member, IEEE
Centre for Industrial Electronics and Robotics
Dept. of Electrical Engineering
National Institute of technology, Rourkela, India
Email: basant.ece@gmail.com
Abstract—As the need and applications of Autonomous
Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) increase day by day, the research
on AUVs become a popular and important topic now a days. A
good number of publications are available periodically.
Unfortunately till now a review report on current status of the
works done on AUVs is hard to find in literature. This paper
presents a comprehensive survey on recent works done on AUVs
and its applications in real life. Scientific researches on AUVs
and the great achievements in India and abroad are presented. A
brief history of chronological development of technologies of
AUVs is established. A note on possible directions and works may
be done in future is also mentioned. This is paper is intended to
serve as an immense reference for the future researchers working
in the field of AUV.
Keywords— Autonomous underwater vehicle; Formation
control; Flocking control; Navigation; Sensors; AUV
Communication; Obstacle avoidance.
I. INTRODUCTION
An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is an unmanned
mobile robot which travels under water. In military
applications, AUVs are also known as unmanned undersea
vehicles (UUVs). AUVs constitute part of a larger group of
undersea systems known as unmanned underwater vehicles.
Another part that includes non-autonomous remotely operated
underwater vehicles (ROVs) which is controlled and powered
from the surface by an operator/pilot via an umbilical.
Above last two decades the AUV and group of AUVs
forming the formation or cooperation, play crucial roles in
different important cases. Specific applications include,
security patrols, search and rescue in hazardous environments
[1, 2, 3]. In military missions, a group of autonomous vehicles
are required to keep a specified formation for area coverage
and reconnaissance. In small satellite clustering, formation
helps to reduce the fuel consumption for propulsion and
expand their sensing capabilities.
Due to high demand of oil, the price of oil increases day-to-
day, this causes the economic slump throughout the world. So
the importance of energy is reemphasized and searching of new
sources of energy is taken into hand. As the importance of
energy sources increases, the area of finding that is also
increases and is extended to the deep see areas. For getting that,
competition among different countries increases. Exploring and
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Bidyadhar Subudhi, Senior Member, IEEE
Centre for Industrial Electronics and Robotics
Dept. of Electrical Engineering
National Institute of technology, Rourkela, India
Email: bidyadhar@nitrkl.ac.in
developing deep see areas needed different kinds of sensors
and devices. Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and AUVs
are directly fulfilling these requirements [4]. AUV plays an
important role in case of high resolution seabed mapping and
commercial survey. In aquaculture, AUVs are used to feed the
fishes [7].
In case of exploration and exploitation of resources located
at deep oceanic environment, AUVs play important roles. The
AUVs are used in risky and hazardous operations such as
bathymetric surveys, oceanographic observations, recovery of
lost man-made objects and ocean floor analysis etc.
By getting inspirations from the study of AUV and its huge
applications in different fields, the authors are motivated to
make a deep review on the researches going on and works done
on AUV. This paper focuses on the current works going on and
completed on AUV and future prospective of AUV avoiding
including many references due to space limitation. The review
report is presented in different sections of this paper, which are
organized in the following manner. In Section II, a brief review
on cooperative control and its applications are presented. Till
this era, the works done on AUV in India is presented in
Section III. In Section IV, some of the technologies used along
with the research works done till now in different countries are
explained. Future perspectives of AUV research are presented
in Section V. Conclusions are mentioned in Section VI.
II. COOPERATIVE CONTROL OF MULTIPLE AUVS
Formation control of multiple AUVs
Formation control is an important research topic within the
recent fields of multi-AUV systems. It has broad applications
and so it is recognized to occupy the seat of an active research
topic in the recent years. Shortly the formation control referred
as the problems of controlling the relative positions and
orientations of robots in a group while allowing the group to
move as a whole. The step-by-step problems of formation
control are (i) assignment of feasible formation (ii) moving in
formation (iii) maintenance of formation shape (iv) switching
between formations. The definition of formation is specified in
two different ways. The ways may be to achieve the rigid
formation [5], or to achieve a flexible formation (desired
configuration may vary) in plane [6].
 Flocking control of multiple AUVs
Flocking is the flying behaviors of a group (flock) of birds.
This is applicable to control a group of multiple AUVs to
perform a desired task. Flocking control of multiple AUVs is
similar to that of formation control with only difference is that
there are no constraints on distance among AUVs (no distance
among AUVs is zero to avoid collision). In case of formation
control, the distances among AUVs are always fixed.
Applications of cooperative control of multiple AUVs
In many applications, a group of AUVs are required to
follow a predefined trajectory while maintaining a desired
spatial pattern. Moving in formation has many advantages over
conventional systems, for example, it can reduce the system
cost, increases the robustness and efficiency of the system
while providing redundancy, reconfiguration ability and
structure flexibility for the system [9]. Both NASA and the Air
Force treat spacecraft formation flying as an important
technology in the twenty first century [10] [11].
Other applications of formation control are security patrols,
search and rescue in hazardous environments. In military
missions, a group of AUVs are required to keep in a specified
formation for area coverage and reconnaissance; in small
satellite clustering formation helps to reduce the fuel
consumption for propulsion and expand their sensing
capabilities [12], In automated highway system (AHS), the
throughput of the transportation network can be greatly
increased if the vehicles can form platoons at a desired velocity
while keeping a specified distance between vehicles [8].
III. AUV RESEARCH IN INDIA
Different work done on AUV in India is presented in this
section including institutes and research laboratories.
AUV developed by Mechanical Engg. Dept, IIT,
Kharagpur
IIT-Kharagpur has developed India’s AUV, which can
bring back deep-sea images, read oceanographic data, collect
water samples and perform military surveillance like pin-
pointing sea mines planted by enemies. The wireless,
intelligent vehicle is fitted with a computer and can maneuver
upto 150m under sea at least for five hours. Unlike a remote-
operated vehicle (ROV), which has to be guided by a surface
platform, this vehicle is preprogrammed before it is released
under sea to carry out specific tasks.
AUV developed by National Institute of Oceanography
(NIO), Goa
A small AUV called Maya is first significantly developed
by National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa, India, in
May 2006. The functional parts of Maya AUV is developed
based on control systems, mechanical design, navigation,
onboard data collection etc. The first prototype test is confined
within freshwater environment and then its design was
extended up to open oceanic environment.
AUV by National Science and Technological Laboratory
(NSTL)
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National Science and Technological Laboratory was able to
produce a number of micro AUVs. This center is able to
design, fabricate, develop, install, test and trial of such type of
AUVs. The purpose developments of these AUVs are to meet
various needs of defense and civil sectors such as underwater
exploration and security patrols etc.
AUV Research in Delhi College of Engineering (DCE)
The first generation of AUV was developed in DCE by an
AUV team in 2007. Work on second generation AUV is
carrying out in the same institute from 2009 in another project.
The aim of this project was design and development of an
AUV which will able to perform multiple underwater
surveillances and defense tasks. The tasks include dropping
markers at strategic locations, detecting underwater light
source, traveling through gates, following pipelines, picking up
loads and detecting ultrasonic sound etc.
Research on AUV in National Institute of Technology (NIT),
Rourkela
Research on AUV is going in Center for Industrial
Electronics and Robotics, NIT, Rourkela. The project is
provided by Defense Research Development Organization
(DRDO), Govt. of India. This project consists of both
theoretical and experimental parts. In the first phase of the
project, path following controller for a single AUV and an
algorithm for cooperative control of a group of AUVs has been
developed theoretically. In the second phase, an experimental
work on AUV is going on. The third phase of the project
consists of experimental work on cooperative control of
multiple AUVs.
IV. RESEARCHES ON AUV IN REST OF THE WORLD
In this section we present a brief idea about the researches
carried out in different countries worldwide.
Australia
There are many small, fully autonomous submerged
vehicles are taken into consideration in Sarafina project in
Australian National University (ANU). As these are small
vehicles, only limited amount of payloads are allowed to carry
up. The technological objective include as follows. The school
(group) of these AUVs allows fault tolerant and scalable
coverage of ocean spaces. In the group, individual member is
functional adaptable according to the current physical position.
Active and passive localization with each other or with other
vehicles in environment is possible. These are mechanically
robust and equipped with sufficient power supply for any level
of autonomy. To cover a certain area by a group of
submergible vehicles, the polygonal structure of vehicles is
formed and is adjusted to get that particular polygonal
structure. The controller for the group of submergible vehicles
has been developed by using reinforcement learning technique.
In KAMBERA project at ANU, there are a group of
autonomous robots are taken into consideration. The
technological objectives of this project are localization of the
 vehicles and the group of vehicles to move in a desired path
without influence of an external force in a long distance
mission. These are applied for surveying the environmental
effects of marine ecosystems and seafloor exploration. The
controller is developed by using the concept of general curve
evolution theory in a decentralized manner.
The other institutes where research work on AUV is going
on are CSIRO Brisnbane, DSTO, University of Sydney and
University of Western Australia.
Canada
Hyland Underwater Vehicle (HUV) is a small privacy
owned underwater vehicle production company. The product of
this is Microseeker, a simple and waterproof underwater
vehicle. A long range (<400 km) AUV named as THESEUS is
developed in International Submarine Engineering Research
(ISER), Vancouver, Canada. The length of the AUV is 35’ and
diameter is 50”, which can work up to 1000m depth with speed
of 4.0kts. The pay load of this is <100km. This is being
designed for single requirement laying fiber optic cable. The
specialty of this AUV is to survey the Arctic seabed in harsh
artic weather. The AUV can navigate under thick ice layer
where remote control does not work. The other places where
works on AUV are going on are University of Newfoundland,
NRC of Canada and University of Quebec etc.
China
Explore AUV was designed and fabricated jointly by
research and educational establishments including the
Shenyang Institute of Automation of Chinese Academy of
Science, 702nd Research Institute of China Shipbuilding
Industry Corporation (CSIC) and other establishments. This
AUV utilizes different methodologies including Doppler
Velocity Measurement, GPS, short baseline positioning,
directional gyro, visual tracking and fluxgate compass, ultra
short baseline positioning etc. The communication system of
Explore AUV consists of both underwater and surface
communication system. The specification of this AUV are as
follows. Llength: 4.4m, width: 0.8m, height: 1.5m, weight:
2.2ton, speed: 4kt, side-traveling speed: 1kt, diving speed:
0.5kt, maximum operating depth: 1km, propulsion: electrically
powered propellers, power: lead-acid batteries.
WZODA AUV was jointly developed by Russia and
several Chinese research and educational institutions. The
depth of operation is 6000m and its advantage is to climb
underwater slopes. CR-01 AUV is also developed by the same
developers as WZODA AUV, the joint Sino-Russo team. This
is used for light and radio signal processing. The specifications
of this AUV includes as length: 4.374m, width: 0.8m, draft:
0.93m, weight: 1305.15kg, maximum depth: 6000m, maximum
speed: 2kt, Endurance: 10hr, positioning accuracy: 10 to 15m.
CR-01A AUV is the advanced version of CR-01 AUV which
has detection ability to penetrate mud layer. CR-02 AUV is
also the advanced version of CR-01 AUV with obstacle
avoidance capabilities. The specifications of CR-02 AUV are
as follows. Length: 4.5m, diameter: 0.8m, weight: 1.5t, speed:
2.3kt, endurance: 25hr, depth: 6000m, power: silver-zinc
battery, photographic capability: 3000 photos, recording
capability: 4hr continuously, obstacle avoidance sonar range:
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60m, obstacle avoidance sonar accuracy: 1%, survey sonar
range: 12km, survey sonar accuracy: better than 20m, bottom
penetration: 50m (soft mud). Submerged Dragon-1 is the
development of CR-02 AUV which has capacity to retrieve the
mother ship approaches directly which is less expansive in
comparison to CR-02 AUV. The specifications of Submerged
Dragon 1 are as follows. Length: 4.6m, diameter: 0.8m, weight:
1.5t, max depth: 6000m, max speed: 2kt, endurance: 24hr,
photographic capability: 3000 photos, obstacle avoidance sonar
range: 100m, side scan sonar range: 2 x 350m, bottom
penetration: 50m (soft mud), sea state: ≤ 4. Arctic ARV is
another Chinese AUV developed by SIoA. This is a fully
automated and box shaped AUV which has better maneuvering
capacity. The specifications includes as: weight: 350kg, range:
up to 3km, hovering depth: 100m.
Denmark
One project on AUV is going-on in Dept. of Automation,
Technical University of Denmark. The name of that low drag
and flat fish shaped AUV is ‘Martin’. The design of this AUV
is based on the European MARIUS AUV (1992). The goal of
this project is to develop an acoustical navigation AUV. This
AUV is used for environmental study and to study the situation
for sea bottom. The objects are identified and detected by using
sonar signals. The parts of the project include path planning,
obstacle avoidance, image processing etc. The specifications of
this AUV are as follows. Error detection: less than 3
undetected errors per billion detected error, latency: less than
0.5 ms, dflerential termination: 62 ohm multiple bit sampling,
data rate: 100-500 Kbaud, message size: max. 8 bytes,
architecture: all messages are broadcasted.
Iceland
Hafmynd is a company which processes cylindrical AUVs
known as GAVIA. There are three types of GAVIA AUVs are
available.
i) GAVIA offshore : for commercial applications
ii) GAVIA scientific : for scientific applications
iii) GAVIA defense : for solving defense problems
This type of AUV can carry a number of high qualitity of
long range sensors to achieve good research works. It has a
logistic foot print and capable of operating at 1000m depth.
GAVIA can be used with GPS (global positioning system) for
the introduction of satellite communication, surface navigation
and wireless LAN connection. The specifications of a typical
GAVIA AUV are as follows. Navigation: As standard GPS and
fluxgate compass, optional DVL aided INS, Optional DVL
aided LBL. Communication; Wireless LAN: IEEE 802.11g
compliant, satellite communications: full global coverage via
Iridium link, acoustic modem: for tracking and status updates.
Measurements; length: from 1.8m for base vehicle, weight in
air: from 49kg for base vehicle, diameter : 200mm, depth
rating: 500m or 1000m, battery modules: 1.2 kW Lithium ion
rechargeable cells per module, max speed: > 5.5 knots,
endurance: depending on speed and exact configuration.
Typical scientific configurations; Gavia base vehicle (500m or
1000m depth rating), DVL INS or LBL positioning, side scan
sonar / camera, sound velocity meter, obstacle avoidance sonar,
 typical options (others available): CTD (Seabird SBE 49), seafloor by surface ship. This AUV is able to take the
ADCP, environmental characterization, optics (Wetlabs ECO photograph and collect data samples during maneuvering under
Pucks), 02, swath bathymetry module, spare battery module(s) water. After performing its task, ABE goes to sleep for
and custom payload modules for user supplied instrumentation conserving energy and operating for a long period with a
ect. certain amount of power supply once a month. These are able
to perform task under a depth of 5000m with a variety of
Norway sensors and tools.
Research and development in underwater In addition to above AUVs, others are developed in the last
instrumentation/vehicle is going on in Norwegian Underwater decades are presented in Table I (Table is filled according to
Institute (NUI), Bergan. The famous underwater vehicle off data available).
this laboratory is HUGIN AUV. This type of AUV is produced
in large scale by Kongsberg Maritime Ltd. These AUVs are
able to perform high speed surveys with superb data quality TABLE I. CHRONOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT OF AUVS IN USA
and excellent navigation. There are three types of HUGIN
AUV Application Operation Year
AUVs are available according to their depth range i.e. 1000m, depth (m) of
3000m, 4500m. These can be operated both in supervised and develo
operational modes according to desired situation. The sensing pment
concept allows alternate sensors for geological survey, search Turtle* Test purpose --- 1775
operations etc. HUGIN-1000 plays an important role in naval Resurgum* Test purpose --- 1879
systems. The combined operation of HUGIN-1000 and SPURV-I Mid-water research 3659 1963
HISAS-1030 reaches a new level of range and resolution in Torpedoes** Test purpose --- 1970
UARS Under-ice mapping 457 1972
acoustic imaginary. This combination is especially designed to
SPURV-II Mid-water research 1524 1973
find small, modern mines, efficiently searching large areas. EAVE-EAST Test purpose 150 1979
This system works well where GPS system does not work EAVE-WEST Test purpose 610 1979
under water. UFSS Search, Hydrodynamics 357 1979
RUMIC Mine counter measure --- 1979
USA SPAT Acoustic training 240 1980
Most of the research and development works on AUVs are CSTV Submarine control test --- 1980
ROBOT-II Seafloor surveying 91 1982
supported by the department of defense mainly Defense B-1 Flow characteristic test 90 1982
Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) and US Navy. AUSS Search purpose 6000 1983
First DARPA has started one project in Draper laboratory for a AUV Hydrodynamic studies --- 1983
low drag of 10knot and 6.800kg weight UUV. This vehicle was LSV Submarine test --- 1987
limited for Martin Meritta crop used for different purposes. XP-21 Test purpose 610 1988
Gradually DARPA developed the amphibious vehicle i.e. MUST Test purpose 610 1988
Autonomous Amphibious Vehicle (AAV), which can travel in Voynger Test purpose 152 1992
ABE To monitor underwater 5000 1995
water and land. It can be used for different purposes. Then
areas over long periods
AUV is further developed to explore the cooperative motion of HAUV Inspection of hull of ship --- 2006
multiple vehicles with mother-daughter concept. Florida EOD HULS Test purpose --- 2008
Atlantic University has developed a famous AUV called
Voynger along cooperation with Perry Technology in 1992. *
In this Table I, the first two vehicles such as Turtle and Resurgum are not
This AUV was the demonstration AUV on the basis of power, true AUVs.
sensor and autonomous vehicle technology. The operation
**
depth of this is 152m. The mechanical modeling includes 1.5 The true AUV starts from 1970 i.e. from Torpedoes.
hp, single screw, four 1hp side propulsion, one ducted main
propulsion which can be lunched from semi-submersible Other countries in the world
catamaran. It has weight of 1226kg in air and dimension is In UK, the institutes where the research work on AUV is
52.5cm in diameter and 480cm in length. This AUV is going are; Aberdeen University, Cranfild University, Heriot-
equipped with different sensors such as obstacle avoidance
watt University.
sensor, heading, auto-depth, altitude, inclination depth and
inclination rate sensors, side scan sonar and forward looking Chronological Development of Technology of AUV:
sensors. It has an inter-storage hull of 19-inch circular internal
diameter and accommodated with different sensors which are The histories of development of AUV from the level of
hull mounted. simulation study to commercialization and technologically
from modeling of single AUV to the cooperative control of
Autonomous Benthic Explore which is known as ABE
AUV was designed and built in Woods Hole Oceanographic multiple AUVs are presented briefly here.
Institution (WHOI). Its weight is about 1200lbs and length Prior to 1970: Initialization of development of AUV
about 2m. The advantage of this AUV is to covering a large
area under water. This was employed for scientists’ frequent In the years of 1960s, the development of AUV type vehicles
need for monitoring a large area under water for a long period were found out. True AUVs are not developed. These vehicles
of time. This overcomes huge expensive job of monitoring the were being used for data gathering and transferring.

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 1970-1980: Exploration of AUV potentials
Around 1970, true AUVs were developed. First true AUV
‘Torpedoes’ was developed in USA. This was used only for
test purposes. During this period a number of test-beds were
developed. This was the actual time for exploration of the
potential of AUVs. Most of the theoretical and experimental
works on AUV were established in this decade. There are so
many successful and failure experiments were carried out.
1980-1990: Experimentation with prototype
This was the decade of experimentation. In this period the
theoretical methods developed in the past decade were
implemented in different real fields. So many test-beds were
fabricated. In USA, most of the prototypes were developed by
Darpar Lab. This period was the golden era in the history of
chronological development of AUV. It is because; most of the
theoretical developments were implemented in the practical
fields.
1990-2000: Goal fulfilling technology development
This is the decade of first generation of developed AUV. In
this period the developed prototype AUV were able to perform
the task accomplished with the goal of the experiments. A
number of organizations and institutions were able to develop
AUVs according to their objectives. This decade forces the
underwater/oceanic vehicles close towards commercialization.
2000-2010: Commercialization of AUV and development of
cooperative motion control technology
True commercialization of AUV which performs a particular
task was achieved in this period. This is the proper utilization
AUV technology in the practical field. So many companies
were able to manufacture AUVs according to market demand.
This is the decade of movement of research and technology on
AUV from the academic level to the industrial level. The
commercialization of AUV is done in market but it is not
suitable from the economic point of view. Another direction of
technologic development of AUV is the cooperative control of
AUVs. A group of multiple AUVs are taken together to
perform a desired task. Theoretical development of cooperative
motion control of multiple AUVs is achieved in this decade.
2010-onwards: Implementations of Cooperative motion
technology in commercial manner
A good number of theoretical aspects upon cooperative
control of AUVs have been developed in the previous decade.
In this decade these cooperative methods are going to be
implemented practically. Also the AUVs are to be manufacture
commercially and would be good from economic point of
view.
The schematic view of history of chronological development
of AUV is shown in Fig. 1.
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Fig. 1. Schematic view chronological development of AUV
V. FUTURE PERSPETIVES OF AUV RESEARCHES
Over the last few decades so many problems on AUV
research have been solved. But till now a lot of unsolved
problems lies in the field of AUV research. So it is difficult to
say there are hard problems present in the field of underwater
vehicle research. The problems may be in the fields of
autonomy, energy, navigation, sensor and communication.
Now a day the problem of autonomy is a major problem.
This can be solved by using intelligence system up to certain
extent.
Energy problem in case of most autonomous vehicles is a
traditional problem. The batteries which provide energy
contain Silver-Zinc composition or Lead-Acid composition.
But now commercial NiMH battery is available which can
provide energy better than the previous ones. Another good
way of solving this problem is using of solar cells as
supplementary energy sources. This can reduce the endurance
of the energy cells.
Navigation of AUV in a desired path faces some problems.
These problems can be solved by using the acoustic
transponder navigation systems. Although this is cost
effective, it can solve the navigation problem up to certain
extent with taking advantages of Global Positioning Systems
(GPS). In certain cases the problem arises due to the use of
some common types of sensors for a group of AUVs. In this
case the sensors are not fixed for any kind of AUVs. So the
range problem arises for making decision in case of
emergency. These problems are now solved by using
embedded sensors, which are high range sensors and are
designed for particular type of AUVs.
AUV communication is a difficult task as the signal has to
travel within water. Keeping communication under water is not
easy due to several reasons. These are: chances of multiple
propagation, small available band width, uncertainty or time
variation in channel of propagation, strong attenuation of signal
in travelling medium etc. Generally laser communication is
possible for short range and RF communication is possible for
long range. But these communication systems face the
predefined problems. So now day’s acoustic signals are used
instead of electromagnetic waves in AUV communication. In
cases of terrestrial communications, laser or RF signals are
 used. One demerit of acoustic communication is the
transmission of low data rate comparing to terrestrial
communication. A wireless network is necessary for each AUV
to keep the information of its neighbor AUVs.
Future perspectives of cooperative control of AUVs
Real-world implementation
Different applications of formation control of multiple
autonomous vehicles have been studied in literature. In
different cases, real life applications of formation control have
been found. These applications may be pipe line survey, ocean
floor explorations, military inspections and toxic materials
cleaning etc. It is very difficult to implement these complex
operations by multi-vehicle systems in real life. The ability of
formation pattern to face the dynamically changing
environment is a challenging task. The unavoidable and
difficult circumstances to be faced by the multi-vehicle systems
are static or dynamic obstacle avoidance, switching of the
formation structure according to situations, keeping formation
among all vehicles in group in case of communication failure
or missing of any vehicle, repairing of formation structure etc.
These tasks are also solved by the multi-robot system
whenever it necessary. But in real word, yet there are so many
challenging tasks are being bounded within theoretical
limitations. Some of these difficult but essential tasks are:
formation control of AUVs, spacecraft formation etc. Some of
the experimental results verifying the theoretical formation
control laws show the usefulness of the formation control.
Hybrid and bio mimic controller
Formation controls of multiple vehicles consist of different
sub-problems, different complexities, undefined uncertainties,
dynamical change in environments and so on. Hence traditional
controllers might not have efficiency to solve all these
formation control problems. It is necessary to implement
different advanced controllers which possess higher level of
computing and coordination protocols such as adaptive
controller, robust controller, etc. for solving different sub-
problems. Similarly to solve the uncertainty problems, the
controllers like Fuzzy or Neural Network, for optimization
problems some evolutionary computing like Genetic Algorithm
(GA), Bactria Foraging Optimization (BFO), PSO, and
Ant/Bee Colony Optimization etc. can be used. In case of
necessity, hybrid controllers which are the combination of
more than one type of controllers should be used. The hybrid
controllers which work both under discrete and continuous
integrated domain possesses higher computing capability
should be used for solving formation control problems.
Another important inspiration of designing formation control
can be obtained from biological agents present in nature. By
studying the natures and behaviors of the biological agents, the
controllers can be developed to control the agents in such a
manner that, as a whole, the team of agents should behave
exactly similar to that of the biological agents. This property is
known as bio-mimics. Hybrid (collaboration of more than one)
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control strategy technology may be used whenever it necessary
to solve different tasks simultaneously.
Networked systems and communication delay
In formation control the vehicles communicate with each
other using graph theory topology. Information or available
data flows from one node (AUV) to another through a network
which is an interesting issue of formation control. Different
communication topologies are available, but the feasible
topologies from the real time point of view should be used. So
cost of the system increases for keeping formation when the
vehicles are travel in far distances within the group. For solving
this problem by optimizing the distance among the vehicles,
consensus protocol may be used. As a result of which, the area
of formation along with the cost for keeping formation are
optimized. In formation structure, when information flows
from one node to another there may be chances of data loss due
to packet drop outs, attenuation in the environment and
scattering of the information wave in the surround etc. So there
is a chance of occurrence of delay at the receiving node of
information. To compensate this, delay compensators may be
employed while designing formation control strategies.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
A brief review on current trends of AUV is presented in
this paper. Cooperative structure of a group of AUVs to
perform a given task is explained with its applications. Recent
works done on AUVs in India as well as in rest parts of the
world are presented. The history of chronological development
of AUVs is explained. Future perspectives of AUV are
presented.
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