Role: Software
This vehicle uses a Pixhawk 6X running ArduSub for deterministic low-level control while a Jetson Orin Nano executes all high-level autonomy and perception within ROS2 Humble. The separation ensures that navigation, vision, and mission logic cannot introduce timing jitter into the control loop, which is critical for stable underwater flight where hydrodynamic damping hides but does not eliminate control latency issues.
State estimation underwater is fundamentally limited by the absence of GPS and the rapid drift of inertial sensors. To address this, a Doppler Velocity Log (DVL) is integrated to provide velocity measurements relative to the seabed. These measurements are fused with IMU data in the state estimator, significantly reducing positional drift during long-duration tasks and enabling repeatable waypoint execution.
All high-level planning, perception, and mission sequencing are implemented as ROS2 nodes. MAVROS provides the bridge between the Pixhawk and the ROS2 ecosystem, allowing position setpoints, mode changes, and telemetry to be exchanged while maintaining the safety guarantees of the flight controller. This architecture allows rapid iteration of autonomy algorithms without reflashing the control stack.