A Vision-based Control Framework for Real-time Autonomous UUV Operations

Abstract

This paper presents a fully integrated vision-based framework for real-time and robust localization, autonomous navigation, and mapping for unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) in dynamic, visually challenging environments. The proposed pipeline enables both net-relative and global localization while generating continuous 3D maps of the surroundings in real-time. The framework was validated on synthetic datasets with ground truth and tested onboard an UUV during autonomous net-relative navigation experiments. Results demonstrate real-time performance and enhanced robustness, supporting vision-driven autonomous navigation and enabling the field deployment of marine robots for critical inspection and mapping tasks in complex underwater environments.