{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,26]],"date-time":"2026-02-26T13:49:13Z","timestamp":1772113753436,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,25]],"date-time":"2020-04-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1587772800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001871","name":"Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e a Tecnologia","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["SFRH\/BD\/81724\/2011"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["SFRH\/BD\/81724\/2011"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001871","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Applied Sciences"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This paper presents a high performance (low computationally demanding) monocular vision-based system for a hovering Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) in the context of autonomous docking process-MViDO system: Monocular Vision-based Docking Operation aid. The MViDO consists of three sub-modules: a pose estimator, a tracker and a guidance sub-module. The system is based on a single camera and a three spherical color markers target that signal the docking station. The MViDO system allows the pose estimation of the three color markers even in situations of temporary occlusions, being also a system that rejects outliers and false detections. This paper also describes the design and implementation of the MViDO guidance module for the docking manoeuvres. We address the problem of driving the AUV to a docking station with the help of the visual markers detected by the on-board camera, and show that by adequately choosing the references for the linear degrees of freedom of the AUV, the AUV is conducted to the dock while keeping those markers in the field of view of the on-board camera. The main concepts behind the MViDO are provided and a complete characterization of the developed system is presented from the formal and experimental point of view. To test and evaluate the MViDO detector and pose an estimator module, we created a ground truth setup. To test and evaluate the tracker module we used the MARES AUV and the designed target in a four-meter tank. The performance of the proposed guidance law was tested on simulink\/Matlab.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/app10092991","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,27]],"date-time":"2020-04-27T04:15:29Z","timestamp":1587960929000},"page":"2991","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":13,"title":["MViDO: A High Performance Monocular Vision-Based System for Docking A Hovering AUV"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3343-385X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andr\u00e9","family":"Bianchi Figueiredo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto and INESC TEC-INESC Technology and Science, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9771-002X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"An\u00edbal","family":"Coimbra Matos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto and INESC TEC-INESC Technology and Science, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cruz, N.A., and Matos, A.C. (2008, January 15\u201318). The MARES AUV, a Modular Autonomous Robot for Environment Sampling. Proceedings of the OCEANS 2008, Washington, DC, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/OCEANS.2008.5152096"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Figueiredo, A., Ferreira, B., and Matos, A. (2014, January 14\u201319). Tracking of an underwater visual target with an autonomous surface vehicle. Proceedings of the Oceans 2014, St. John\u2019s, NL, Canada.","DOI":"10.1109\/OCEANS.2014.7003237"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Figueiredo, A., Ferreira, B., and Matos, A. (2016, January 10\u201313). Vision-based Localization and Positioning of an AUV. Proceedings of the Oceans 2016, Shangai, China.","DOI":"10.1109\/OCEANSAP.2016.7485384"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"54","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ifacol.2016.10.321","article-title":"Autonomous homing and docking for AUVs using Range-Only Localization and Light Beacons","volume":"49","author":"Vallicrosa","year":"2016","journal-title":"IFAC-PapersOnLine"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Maki, T., Shiroku, R., Sato, Y., Matsuda, T., Sakamaki, T., and Ura, T. (2013, January 5\u20138). Docking method for hovering type AUVs by acoustic and visual positioning. Proceedings of the 2013 IEEE International Underwater Technology Symposium (UT), Tokyo, Japan.","DOI":"10.1109\/UT.2013.6519905"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"48","DOI":"10.1016\/j.oceaneng.2008.10.001","article-title":"Experiments on vision guided docking of an autonomous underwater vehicle using one camera","volume":"36","author":"Park","year":"2009","journal-title":"Ocean Eng."},{"key":"ref_7","unstructured":"Maire, F.D., Prasser, D., Dunbabin, M., and Dawson, M. (2009, January 2\u20134). A Vision Based Target Detection System for Docking of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle. Proceedings of the 2009 Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation (ACRA 2009), Sydney, Australia."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"221","DOI":"10.1007\/s00138-015-0736-4","article-title":"Reliable pose estimation of underwater dock using single camera: A scene invariant approach","volume":"27","author":"Ghosh","year":"2016","journal-title":"Mach. Vis. Appl."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"70","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ifacol.2015.06.012","article-title":"Pose Estimation for Underwater Vehicles using Light Beacons","volume":"48","author":"Gracias","year":"2015","journal-title":"IFAC-PapersOnLine"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Palomeras, N., Pe\u00f1alver, A., Massot-Campos, M., Negre, P.L., Fern\u00e1ndez, J.J., Ridao, P., Sanz, P.J., and Oliver-Codina, G. (2016). I-AUV Docking and Panel Intervention at Sea. Sensors, 16.","DOI":"10.3390\/s16101673"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lwin, K.N., Mukada, N., Myint, M., Yamada, D., Minami, M., Matsuno, T., Saitou, K., and Godou, W. (2018). Docking at pool and sea by using active marker in turbid and day\/night environment. Artif. Life Robot.","DOI":"10.1007\/s10015-018-0442-1"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7","DOI":"10.1007\/s10514-005-0603-7","article-title":"Robot Homing by Exploiting Panoramic Vision","volume":"19","author":"Argyros","year":"2005","journal-title":"Auton. Robot."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"360","DOI":"10.1002\/rob.20246","article-title":"Robust vision-based underwater homing using self-similar landmarks","volume":"25","author":"Negre","year":"2008","journal-title":"J. Field Robot."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"515","DOI":"10.1109\/48.972086","article-title":"Autonomous underwater vehicle homing\/docking via electromagnetic guidance","volume":"26","author":"Feezor","year":"2001","journal-title":"IEEE J. Ocean. Eng."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"498","DOI":"10.1109\/48.972084","article-title":"Docking for an autonomous ocean sampling network","volume":"26","author":"Singh","year":"2001","journal-title":"IEEE J. Ocean. Eng."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bezruchko, F., Burdinsky, I., and Myagotin, A. (2011, January 6\u20139). Global extremum searching algorithm for the AUV guidance toward an acoustic buoy. Proceedings of the OCEANS\u201911-Oceans of Energy for a Sustainable Future, Santander, Spain.","DOI":"10.1109\/Oceans-Spain.2011.6003464"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Jantapremjit, P., and Wilson, P.A. (2008, January 8\u201311). Guidance-control based path following for homing and docking using an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle. Proceedings of the Oceans\u201908, Kobe, Japan.","DOI":"10.1109\/OCEANSKOBE.2008.4530935"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wirtz, M., Hildebrandt, M., and Gaudig, C. (2012, January 14\u201319). Design and test of a robust docking system for hovering AUVs. Proceedings of the 2012 Oceans, Hampton Roads, VA, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/OCEANS.2012.6404975"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"80","DOI":"10.1109\/MRA.2011.943233","article-title":"Tutorial: Visual odometry","volume":"18","author":"Scaramuzza","year":"2011","journal-title":"IEEE Robot. Autom. Mag."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Jaegle, A., Phillips, S., and Daniilidis, K. (2016, January 16\u201321). Fast, robust, continuous monocular egomotion computation. Proceedings of the 2016 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Stockholm, Sweden.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICRA.2016.7487206"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"103","DOI":"10.1016\/j.micpro.2019.03.005","article-title":"The fastest visual ego-motion algorithm in the west","volume":"67","author":"Berry","year":"2019","journal-title":"Microprocess. Microsyst."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Li, S., Xu, C., and Xie, M. (2012). A Robust O(n) Solution to the Perspective-n-Point Problem. IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell., 34.","DOI":"10.1109\/TPAMI.2012.41"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"511","DOI":"10.1016\/S0094-5765(02)00125-X","article-title":"Relative position and attitude estimation and control schemes for the final phase of an autonomous docking mission of spacecraft","volume":"52","author":"Philip","year":"2003","journal-title":"Acta Astronaut."},{"key":"ref_24","unstructured":"Thrun, S., Burgard, W., and Fox, D. (2005). Probabilistic Robotics (Intelligent Robotics and Autonomous Agents), The MIT Press."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"174","DOI":"10.1109\/78.978374","article-title":"A Tutorial on Particle Filters for On-line Non-linear\/Non-Gaussian Bayesian Tracking","volume":"50","author":"Arulampalam","year":"2001","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Signal Process."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Arnaud Doucet, N.d.F.N.G. (2001). Sequential Monte Carlo Methods in Practice, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-4757-3437-9"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Li, B., Xu, Y., Liu, C., Fan, S., and Xu, W. (2015, January 8\u201312). Terminal navigation and control for docking an underactuated autonomous underwater vehicle. Proceedings of the 2015 IEEE International Conference on Cyber Technology in Automation, Control, and Intelligent Systems (CYBER), Shenyang, China.","DOI":"10.1109\/CYBER.2015.7287904"},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5","DOI":"10.3182\/20100915-3-DE-3008.00065","article-title":"Underwater docking approach of an under-actuated AUV in the presence of constant ocean current","volume":"43","author":"Park","year":"2010","journal-title":"IFAC Proc. Vol."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2703","DOI":"10.1109\/TSP.2007.893914","article-title":"Particle Filtering for Multisensor Data Fusion With Switching Observation Models: Application to Land Vehicle Positioning","volume":"55","author":"Caron","year":"2007","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Signal Process."},{"key":"ref_30","unstructured":"Andersson, M. (2019). Automatic Tuning of Motion Control System for an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle. [Master\u2019s Thesis, Link\u00f6ping University]."},{"key":"ref_31","unstructured":"Yang, R. (2016). Modeling and Robust Control Approach for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles. [Ph.D. Thesis, Ocean University of China]."}],"container-title":["Applied Sciences"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-3417\/10\/9\/2991\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,13]],"date-time":"2025-10-13T13:51:15Z","timestamp":1760363475000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2076-3417\/10\/9\/2991"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,25]]},"references-count":31,"journal-issue":{"issue":"9","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,5]]}},"alternative-id":["app10092991"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/app10092991","relation":{},"ISSN":["2076-3417"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2076-3417","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,25]]}}}