Innovative Underwater Robotics for Ocean Observance

Dear Colleagues,

About 71% of the Earth’s surface is water-covered. However, the exploration of the ocean is still inadequate. Unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) are automated and operate independently of direct human input. With the development of artificial intelligence technologies, the application of underwater robotics has aroused the interest of researchers. It can assist with ocean observation, deep-sea exploration, offshore inspection, surveillance, and reconnaissance. Different from ground or aerial vehicles, UUVs operate in a marine environment, which is usually unknown, dynamic, hostile, and unconstructed. In such a complex and uncertain environment, it is difficult for UUVs to accomplish one or multiple missions and to realize full autonomy. In particular, the harshness of the underwater environment and the nature of the signal make navigation, guidance, and control challenging. In this Special Issue, innovative and frontier research in navigation and decision-making for underwater robotics is addressed, with an emphasis on the sensing, data fusion, target detection, motion planning, task management, and cooperative control and application of UUVs.

Background: Compared with other autonomous platforms, the autonomous navigation, guidance, and control systems of underwater unmanned vehicles differ due to their special, constrained operating environment.

Aim and Scope: Present current research on the development of underwater robotics that could be applied in practical missions and improve the autonomous level of UUVs.

Cutting-edge research: SLAM, motion planning, and fault tolerance control. 

The kinds of papers we are looking for are: advanced research on sensing, data fusion, target detection, motion planning, task management, and cooperative control between multiple UUVs or cross-domain unmanned platforms.

Dr. Yuanchang Liu
Dr. Rui Song
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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-blind 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 monthly 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.

• marine autonomous system
• motion planning
• task allocation
• target detection
• cooperative control of multi-unmanned marine systems