Development and simulation of vertical profiling capability for FAU autonomous underwater vehicles

This thesis describes the development of a simulation environment for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) on UNIX platforms. AUV missions can therefore be carried out without going to the sea. The Yoyo controller, a component for AUVs is also described in this thesis. The main function of Yoyo is to control the vertical profile of an AUV while it is navigating underwater performing data collection missions. The development of the controller is done in the simulation environment. Several test cases have been performed, and the test results have clearly demonstrated the successful development of the controller.