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arXiv · 2608.04723

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

Erik Tjærand Frøland·Marco Job·Md Ether Deowan·Eleni Kelasidi
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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.

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Erik Tjærand Frøland, Marco Job, Md Ether Deowan, Eleni Kelasidi. 2026-08-05. A Vision-based Control Framework for Real-time Autonomous UUV Operations. https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.04723

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