A Vision Based Target Detection System for Docking of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

Abstract

This paper describes the development and preliminary
experimental evaluation of a visionbased
docking system to allow an Autonomous
Underwater Vehicle (AUV) to identify and attach
itself to a set of uniquely identifiable targets.
These targets, docking poles, are detected
using Haar rectangular features and rotation
of integral images. A non-holonomic controller
allows the Starbug AUV to orient itself with
respect to the target whilst maintaining visual
contact during the manoeuvre. Experimental
results show the proposed vision system is capable
of robustly identifying a pair of docking
poles simultaneously in a variety of orientations
and lighting conditions. Experiments in an outdoor
pool show that this vision system enables
the AUV to dock autonomously from a distance
of up to 4m with relatively low visibility.