Multi-vehicle cooperative path-following guidance system for diver operation support

This paper focuses on the development of a cooperative guidance system allowing two marine robotic platforms, one on the surface and the other operating underwater, to coordinate their motion in order to fulfil the goal of supporting diver operations during dive campaigns. In the scope of EU FP7 CADDY Project, the proposed paper deals with the specific problem of the "guide" functionality, allowing the diver to rely on robotic platforms to be guided along the desired dive spots. A cooperative path-following technique based on the virtual-target approach is developed and validated through simulation results.