Behavior-based control of an autonomous underwater vehicle for adaptive plume mapping

This paper investigates a behavior-based control system for an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to adaptively map a turbulent plume. The objective of this paper is to describe and verify the control system developed in a simulation environment, which aims to apply it for adaptively mapping deep-sea hydrothermal non-buoyant plume. The proposed behavior-based control system is implemented on an AUV to perform in-water tests. The successful field experiments demonstrate that the control system effectively navigates the AUV to map a rhodamine plume developed in near-shore ocean environment.