Abstract
This work addresses the coordinated operation of an autonomous underwater vehicle and an autonomous surface vessel and its main goal is the development of an infrastructure that allows the surface vessel to dynamically position itself above the underwater vehicle while the later one is collecting data and navigating in long baseline mode using a set of beacons installed in the operation area. Besides a formal statement of the coordination problem, we present results both from real experiments and from simulations that illustrate the proposed solution.

Abstract
This paper describes a Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) system being developed at the University of Porto to be used in a small autonomous boat for the survey of shallow water environments, such as rivers, deltas, estuaries and dams. Its purpose is to obtain high resolution echo reflectivity maps through synthetic aperture techniques, taking advantage of the high precision navigation system of the boat. In the future the production of bottom tomography maps is also considered through the use of interferometric imaging techniques.

Abstract
In this paper we describe an algorithm that produces a post mission estimate of the spatial evolution of the Isurus AUV. To make this post processing possible, the navigation system records on the vehicle logging system all the navigation data received during the mission execution. The data comprise the depth of the vehicle, the outputs of the tilt sensors and digital compass, the angular velocity of the propeller, as well as acoustic range measurements to a set of transponders. After mission completion, the logged data is then processed to produce the estimate of the evolution of the vehicle. The algorithm used to process this data is based on a fixed interval nonlinear stochastic smoothing scheme and produces an estimate that evolves continuously in time. For each instant of time, the post mission position estimate is based on all the information collected during the mission, as opposed to real time estimates that can only take into account past data.

Abstract
In this paper, we address the control of a small-sized autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), the MARES. We focus on the vertical motion of the vehicle while contemplating an alternative actuator configuration which may operate in the presence of a possible fault. We present a method to detect the occurence of a fault and to identify the faulty thruster. In normal operation, the MARES AUV makes use of two through-hull thrusters for accurate vertical positioning. Nevertheless, the vehicle depth is still controllable with only one of these but an adequate operation requires the redefinition of the control law. Two modes of operation are made possible by deriving a new feedback control law for the configuration with only one vertical thruster. Based on the Lyapunov theory and on the backstepping method, we determine a control law that makes the vehicle tend to the reference with null error. As a demonstration of the performances of our approach, we present some results obtained from field experiments.

Abstract
This papers addresses the dynamic characterization of the autonomous underwater vehicle MARES. The paper presents the main dynamic properties of this underwater robotic platform as well as the procedures employed to obtain the parameters that define the vehicle model. Furthermore, the paper also presents a detailed characterization of the elementary motions that this vehicle is able to perform.

Abstract
This paper describes the interaction between the kinematic model of the AUV MARES and the measurement or observation of the environment through images obtained with a sonar. Three types of sonar are discussed in this paper: forward-look, side scan and multibeam - but the sonar used to develop this work was the side scan sonar. The type of observations and characteristics of the environment provided by the sonar are described here. The method which connects the sensory part of the vehicle with the observations from the sonar, was the Kalman filter (EKF). In this paper, we present two simulations of filters for two different characteristics. Both filters estimate the characteristics of the natural landmarks, creating an environment map, but both of them consider different states of the vehicle. Results of the simulation are obtained. The features that are considered are an underwater pipe on the floor and a vertical wall. A control loop for the vehicle that provides the capacity to move along the feature/landmark from a reference distance is also discussed.