Autonomous Systems and Technologies of Underwater Robots
A Special Issue of Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (ISSN 2077-1312) belonging to the section "Ocean Engineering".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 February 2027 | Viewed by 1101
Editors
Interests: autonomous underwater vehicles; autonomy; decision-making
2. Interuniversity Center of Integrated Systems for the Marine Environment (ISME), Genoa, Italy
Interests: underwater robotics; navigation; SLAM; sensor fusion
2. Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Florence, 4-50121 Firenze, Italy
Interests: robot design; marine and underwater robotics; control of robots; mechatronics; sensor fusion in navigation systems
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Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Operating in the deep ocean presents a unique set of engineering constraints: it is an unstructured, communications-denied environment that challenges the robustness of conventional robotic solutions. This Special Issue aims to highlight practical advancements moving marine autonomy from simulation to sea.
As the industry sees increased demand for reliable oceanographic data collection, offshore asset inspection, and maritime security, the requirement for truly intelligent systems—capable of long-duration operation without human-in-the-loop supervision—has become critical. We invite researchers to submit contributions that bridge the gap between theoretical algorithm design and successful deep-sea deployment. The focus is on rigorous experimental validation in the areas of robust perception, navigation in GPS-denied zones, and bio-inspired mechanical design. We are looking for interdisciplinary work that defines how AUVs and ROVs effectively perceive, interact with, and navigate complex marine environments.
We welcome submissions addressing both the theoretical foundations and the practical engineering challenges of the underwater domain. Topics of particular interest include:
- Perception and Sensing in Turbid Environments
- Visual Restoration: techniques for color correction, dehazing, and image enhancement in scattering media and low-light conditions.
- Acoustic Imaging: advanced processing for Forward-Looking Sonar (FLS) and Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) interpretation.
- Multi-Modal Sensor Fusion: integrating optical, acoustic, and magnetic data streams for high-fidelity environmental modeling.
- Navigation and Localization (GPS-Denied)
- Underwater SLAM: simultaneous localization and mapping strategies specifically optimized for feature-poor or repetitive seabeds.
- Inertial Navigation: methods for drift compensation and error reduction during long-endurance missions.
- Cooperative Localization: distributed techniques allowing multi-robot swarms to improve positioning accuracy through peer-to-peer updates.
- Communication and Networking
- Acoustic Comms: protocols and signal processing to overcome limited bandwidth, high latency, and multipath interference.
- Optical/RF Modems: short-range, high-throughput data transfer solutions suitable for docking maneuvers or swarm data sharing.
- IoUT Architectures: frameworks for establishing persistent Internet of Underwater Things sensor networks.
- Control, Dynamics, and Motion Planning
- Hydrodynamic Modeling: adaptive control systems handling strong currents and nonlinear disturbances.
- Path Planning: 3D collision avoidance and energy-efficient trajectory optimization.
- Intervention Capabilities: control strategies for underwater manipulators and object interaction.
- Novel Hardware and Biomimetics
- Soft Robotics: compliant materials and actuators inspired by marine life (e.g., fish, octopuses) for efficient propulsion.
- Energy Systems: High-endurance battery technologies and energy harvesting from the marine environment.
- Deep-Sea Design: Pressure-tolerant electronics and housing structures.
- Multi-Robot Systems and Swarms
- Formation Control: Algorithms for maintaining fleet geometry during search and rescue or mapping missions.
- Task Allocation: Distributed decision-making for heterogeneous teams of AUVs and ASVs (Surface Vehicles).
Dr. Oren Gal
Dr. Alessandro Bucci
Prof. Dr. Benedetto Allotta
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs)
- underwater robotics
- underwater SLAM
- multi-sensor fusion
- autonomy
- acoustic communication
- cooperative localization
- GPS-denied navigation
- marine perception
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