Development of an AUV control architecture based on systems engineering concepts

The very nature of a complex system does not allow that a single person be able to master all required competences for its development or operation. Therefore, specialization, team work and coordination are required to achieve the desired goals. In order to assure positive synergy between every participant, system engineering concepts must be taken into account, like development methods, product decomposition, functional classification, design patterns, interface and compatibility assessment, configuration management, technological plans, technical standards, integration policies, system commissioning and validation. These systems engineering concepts are shown in the presented work through the development of a fully functional AUV system and control architecture. The control system and its components are properly described and compared against other state of the art architectures. It is also shown that it was possible to sustain the project development tasks among many successive group or generation of students, demonstrating the benefits of the proposed engineering methods. The proposed system was tested in field tests of the AUV during an oceanographic mission. (AU)