Modular Multi-Sensor Fusion for Underwater Localization for Autonomous ROV Operations

This article discusses the challenges of localization filters for underwater vehicles and presents the Modular and Robust Sensor-Fusion Framework (MaRS) as a solution. MaRS is extended to work with underwater vehicles and their environment and allows efficient use of asynchronous sensors, handles measurement outliers and outages, and includes sensor-frame initialization and online extrinsic calibration methods. Tests using a small remotely operated vehicle (ROV) show improved handling of sensors and state estimation results in real harbor-like environments.