Adaptive Sampling of Thermoclines with Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

• Type: Article in International Conference Proceedings Book
• Date: 2010

Authors

Nuno A Cruz (Author) FEUP; Anibal C Matos (Author) FEUP

Conference proceedings International

Title: OCEANS 2010

Washington State Conference and Trade Center (WSCTC)

Seattle, WA, SEP 20-23, 2010

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 8 Citations

Scopus - 29 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Engineering and technology > Electrical engineering, Electronic engineering, Information engineering

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-003-C6K

DOI: 10.1109/oceans.2010.5663903

Abstract (EN): Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) are routinely being used to provide the scientific community with detailed ocean data at very reasonable costs. In typical operations, AUVs are programmed to follow pre-defined geo-referenced trajectories, while collecting the relevant information about the underwater environment, with a clear separation between navigation and payload sensors. Under the adaptive sampling paradigm, the AUVs are able to interpret some of the payload data in order to change the sampling pattern and concentrate measurements in the regions of interest. In this paper, we describe an implementation of such paradigm, in which a small sized AUV is able to process CTD data, in real time, and change depth in order to maintain tracking of the thermocline region. We demonstrate the developed algorithms with data from field experiments in a dam reservoir, which show a very good performance, even in very shallow waters with hardly detectable features. The implementation ensures the safety of the AUV, by resuming to standard yo-yo patterns if the thermocline is not detected.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 6