Review on path planning methods for autonomous underwater vehicle

Abstract

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) have obtained a significant role in recent years due to their potential in oceanographic and marine research, as well as in industries such as oil and gas exploration and environmental monitoring. Technology has evolved significantly since its inception in the 19th century, with modern AUVs capable of operating at great depths for extended periods. This review paper provides an overview of the latest advancements in the domain of AUVs path planning. One of the critical challenges for AUVs is navigation in the complex and unpredictable marine environment and AUVs must overcome obstacles such as reefs, rocks, and shipwrecks to reach their destination. The paper focuses on the difficulties AUVs face in the ocean environment, mainly related to path planning. It emphasizes path planning with an optimal solution from the origin point to the final point. The path planning method is classified into two parts, global and local, to handle static and known obstacles and dynamic and unknown obstacles, respectively. This review paper has discussed the several path-planning methods for AUV, and strategies deployed for validating them through experimentation and simulation. The paper ends with a recommendation for future research on the path planning of AUVs.