The control system of a small virtual AUV

This paper presents the activities in the field of underwater robotics being carried out at the Naval Automation Institute (IAN) of the Italian National Council. The ultimate goal is the development of an autonomous underwater vehicle for research purposes. To reduce the economic and logistic resources needed to develop and test a real AUV at IAN the concept of virtual AUV was introduced. This consists of a ROV capable of simulating the behaviour of an autonomous vehicle. The result is a MASTER/SLAVE type of architecture in which, at least initially, the SLAVE on board the vehicle handles communications, acquires data and performs elementary control operations, whereas the MASTER (the control console on land) manages the operator interface, analysis of sensorial data and mission control