Electric Field Based Obstacle Avoidance

The uses of autonomous underwater vehicles have increased in the last few years due to the need to perform operations in deeper and riskier areas where human divers cannot reach. Conventional sonar and vision based obstacle avoidance and real time guidance becomes difficult and somewhat inconclusive in the deep oceanic environment. A great variety of marine animals including some species of electric fish have been found to avoid obstacles and navigate, with the help of electric sensors located on the skin on the anterior part of their body. This paper reports details of a real time obstacle avoidance system developed for a submersible based on electric field sensing. Some initial results are also presented.