Developing Multi-AUV Systems for Advanced Wide-Area Underwater Exploration

This paper presents a novel methodology for marine surveys utilizing multiple autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), developed by the National Maritime Research Institute of Japan. By harnessing the synergistic capabilities of multiple AUVs, this approach achieves highly efficient, high-resolution seafloor surveys with exceptional reliability. Central to this innovation are advanced multi-vehicle coordination techniques, enabling real-time position adjustments that significantly enhance the quality of acoustic bottom surveys. These techniques are seamlessly integrated into an adaptive motion planning framework, allowing dynamic responses to changing operational conditions in multi-AUV deployments. The methodology is designed with simplicity in mind, ensuring broad compatibility with diverse AUV systems and ease of adoption for various applications. Furthermore, the paper highlights additional advancements crucial for achieving long-term, wide-area underwater survey. In particular, underwater AUV docking and on-site data transfer are essential for enabling reliable and sustained underwater operations in the future.