Multibeam Tile Registration for Teach and Repeat Path Following of an Underwater Vehicle

This paper proposes a methodology for the generation and registration of three-dimensional data sets to support an adaption of Teach and Repeat path following for an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) equipped with a multibeam sonar system. The goal of this system is to enable an AUV to generate a topological map of a path consisting of locally consistent sub maps and to re-follow this path using newly collected data. For AUVs traversing long distances without external navigational aids, this methodology would allow robust return-to-home capability, specifically in remote and harsh environments such as beneath ice.