Autonomous Feature Tracing and Adaptive Sampling in Real-World Underwater Environments

Applications of robots for gathering data in underwater environments has been limited due to the challenges posed by the medium. We have developed a miniature, agile, easy to carry and deploy Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) equipped with a suite of sensors for underwater environmental sensing. We have also developed a compact high resolution fast temperature sensing module for the AUV for microstructure and turbulence measurements in water bodies. In this paper, we describe a number of algorithms and subsystems of the AUV that enable autonomous real-world operation, and present the data gathered in an experimental campaign in collaboration with limnologists. We demonstrate adaptive sampling missions where the AUV could autonomously locate a zone of interest and adapt its trajectory to stay in it. Further, it could execute specific behaviors to accommodate special sensing requirements necessary to enhance the quality of the data collected. In these missions, the AUV could autonomously trace a feature and capture horizontal variation in various quantities, including turbidity and temperature fluctuations, allowing limnologists to study lake phenomena in an additional dimension.