Getting started with AUV development

Hello, I am new to AUV development. I have a custom designed ROV (3D model). The rover has Bluerobotics T200 thrusters and a pixhawk to control them. Now I want to use a raspberry pi to make the rover autonomous. I plan on using ROS at the core. I want to simulate the rover where I can test it.Where should I get started?

I think I will need to use gazebo to simulate the rover,Ardupilot sitl to get the pixhawk in the sim, mavros to get information from the pixhawk. From there I think I will have to work with video from the rover and pixhawk imu data to make the rover autonomous.Am I on the right path?

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@jakkala-kalvik - I think you’re on the right track. The hard part is connecting all of these elements together into a usable simulation.

Can you tell us a bit more about what you want your AUV to be able to accomplish autonomously? The primary challenge to making something autonomous is sensing the environment well enough that you can make good decisions. For example, the Pixhawk IMU will provide orientation info, but it cannot tell you your position accurately. You’ll have to use some other type of sensing for position if that’s necessary.

I didn’t want to make the post too long so I left out a few things.
But I plan on using a stereo vision camera, depth sensor and a scanning sonar. I want to get rid of the tether and have the rover map a set area while keeping track of its path and avoiding objects and have it return to its launch position once done mapping. Its going to be hard to do without GPS but that is the long term plan for now.

…what if you surface in intervalls? …will not a GPS be the solution? …up, get a position, adjust and dive again?

@ROV depending on the requirements of the mission, this could be a fine solution!