Autonomous Navigation of Low Cost Underwater Vehicle for Shallow Freshwater Applications

To perform underwater navigation, a robot has to be designed and developed with multiple sensors and robust mapping and navigation algorithms that can withstand challenging underwater conditions. This paper discusses communication between Pixhawk and Jetson in the case of autonomous navigation and ground station in manual operation mode. The information from IMU and depth sensor is used to perceive the underwater environment by developing a map. The generated map is then used for path planning and autonomous navigation. Experiments performed in a swimming pool environment demonstrate the developed framework’s capabilities to be usable in shallow freshwater scenarios.