Compact underwater vehicle with acoustic link for communication and positioning

Abstract

This paper describes the development of autonomous underwater vehicle using variable vector propellers with the distributed controller and underwater acoustic communication system. Also presented is a novel technique of controlling the servomotors using the field programmable gate array (FPGA). Moreover, this paper also describes the 3D positioning technique for underwater vehicle. The digital signal processing by FPGA technology has enabled us to build compact, fast and highly reliable systems.