Real-time Autonomous Glider Navigation Software

TL;DR

This paper introduces GENIoS Python, a real-time autonomous navigation software for underwater gliders that improves navigation accuracy by generating waypoints based on flow predictions, reducing human effort in complex ocean environments.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel software tool that enhances underwater glider navigation through real-time flow prediction and autonomous waypoint generation, supporting extended operations.

Findings

Improves navigation accuracy in complex ocean currents

Supports extended autonomous operation

Provides customizable and lightweight navigation solutions

Abstract

Underwater gliders are widely utilized for ocean sampling, surveillance, and other various oceanic applications. In the context of complex ocean environments, gliders may yield poor navigation performance due to strong ocean currents, thus requiring substantial human effort during the manual piloting process. To enhance navigation accuracy, we developed a real-time autonomous glider navigation software, named GENIoS Python, which generates waypoints based on flow predictions to assist human piloting. The software is designed to closely check glider status, provide customizable experiment settings, utilize lightweight computing resources, offer stably communicate with dockservers, robustly run for extended operation time, and quantitatively compare flow estimates, which add to its value as an autonomous tool for underwater glider navigation.