Target-referenced Localization of an Underwater Vehicle using a Laser-based Vision System

This paper describes the development of an image-based position tracking system designed for a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). The sensor package consists of two underwater laser pointers and a single CCD camera mounted on the ROV. The proposed system fuses data deriving from the projection of the laser pointers on the image plane and computer vision object tracking algorithms. The results deriving from the data fusion compose the position vector of the vehicle, with respect to the center of the tracked object. This position vector can be used for a closed loop steering control of the vehicle. The integration of the system was proved successful through the experimental procedure. The effective working range of the system is 40-150 cm, at 17 Hz refresh rate and 6% of absolute error. The working range is limited due to the existing hardware. However the implemented software is versatile to future hardware upgrades