Abstract
This work presents a setup comprised of an underwater vehicle and various sensors
that can be used for underwater navigation. The complete system is tested in an aquaculture fish
farm, which features an environment that includes fish, deforming and flexible structures and
highly variable environmental disturbances. The proposed approach integrates and provides
software-based time-synchronization of data from external and on-board sensors to enable
development and testing of multi-modal underwater navigation methods. All system components
are low-cost, small-size and available off-the-shelf, motivated by the desire to collectively develop
suitable underwater navigation methods that may be used in complex environments such as
aquaculture fish farms, large tanks and underwater caves. Data captured through field trials in
a fish farm show the potential of the proposed integrated system and the challenges related to
underwater navigation in a complex underwater environment.
that can be used for underwater navigation. The complete system is tested in an aquaculture fish
farm, which features an environment that includes fish, deforming and flexible structures and
highly variable environmental disturbances. The proposed approach integrates and provides
software-based time-synchronization of data from external and on-board sensors to enable
development and testing of multi-modal underwater navigation methods. All system components
are low-cost, small-size and available off-the-shelf, motivated by the desire to collectively develop
suitable underwater navigation methods that may be used in complex environments such as
aquaculture fish farms, large tanks and underwater caves. Data captured through field trials in
a fish farm show the potential of the proposed integrated system and the challenges related to
underwater navigation in a complex underwater environment.
