Enhanced Testing of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles Using Augmented Reality & JavaBeans

System integration and validation of embedded technologies has always been a challenge, particularly in the case of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). The inaccessibility of the remote environment combined with the cost of field operations have been the main obstacles to the maturity and evolution of underwater technologies. Additionally, the analysis of embedded technologies is hampered by data processing and analysis time lags, due to low bandwidth data communications with the underwater platform. This makes realworld monitoring and testing challenging for the developer/operator as they are unable to react quickly or in real-time to the remote platform stimuli. This chapter discusses the different testing techniques useful for unmanned underwater vehicle (UUVs) and gives example applications where necessary. Later sections digress into more detail about a new novel framework called the Augmented Reality Framework (ARF) and its applications on improving pre-real-world testing facilities for UUVs. To begin with more background is given on current testing techniques and their uses. To begin with some background is given about Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs). An AUV (Healey et al., 1995) is a type of UUV. The difference between AUVs and Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) is that AUVs employ intelligence, such as sensing and automatic decision making, allowing them to perform tasks autonomously, whilst ROVs are controlled remotely by a human with communications running down a tether. AUVs can operate for long periods of time without communication with an operator as they run a predefined mission plan. An operator can design missions for multiple AUVs and monitor their progress in parallel. ROVs require at least one pilot per ROV controlling them continuously. The cost of using AUVs should be drastically reduced compared with ROVs providing the AUV technology is mature enough to execute the task as well as an ROV. AUVs have no tether, or physical connection with surface vessels, and therefore are free to move without restriction around or inside complex structures. AUVs can be smaller and have lower powered thrusters than ROVs because they do not have to drag a tether behind them. Tethers can be thousands of metres in length for deep sea missions and consequently very heavy. In general, AUVs require less infrastructure than ROVs i.e. ROVs usually require a large ship and crew to operate which is not required with an AUV due to being easier to deploy and recover. In general, autonomous vehicles (Zyda et al., 1990) can go where humans cannot, do not want to, or in more relaxed terms they are suited to doing the “the dull, the dirty, and the O pe n A cc es s D at ab as e w w w .in te ch w eb .o rg