# Adaptive Landmark Color for AUV Docking in Visually Dynamic Environments

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.02944 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.02944/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 5 of its 23 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 4 Oct 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [Fast Underwater Image Enhancement for Improved Visual Perception](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.09766/) (2019)
- [Underwater Single Image Color Restoration Using Haze-Lines and a New Quantitative Dataset](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1811.01343/) (2018)
- [Robotic Detection of Marine Litter Using Deep Visual Detection Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.01079/) (2018)
- [Design and Experiments with LoCO AUV: A Low Cost Open-Source Autonomous Underwater Vehicle](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.09041/) (2020)
- [Robot Communication Via Motion: Closing the Underwater Human-Robot Interaction Loop](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1809.07948/) (2018)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) conduct missions underwater without the need for human intervention. A docking station (DS) can extend mission times of an AUV by providing a location for the AUV to recharge its batteries and receive updated mission information. Various methods for locating and tracking a DS exist, but most rely on expensive acoustic sensors, or are vision-based, which is significantly affected by water quality. In this doctype, we present a vision-based method that utilizes adaptive color LED markers and dynamic color filtering to maximize landmark visibility in varying water conditions. Both AUV and DS utilize cameras to determine the water background color in order to calculate the desired marker color. No communication between AUV and DS is needed to determine marker color. Experiments conducted in a pool and lake show our method performs 10 times better than static color thresholding methods as background color varies. DS detection is possible at a range of 5 meters in clear water with minimal false positives.