Development of safety envelopes and subsea traffic rules for autonomous remotely operated vehicles

This article presents the process used to develop safety envelopes and subsea traffic rules for autonomous remotely operated vehicles (AROVs) used in subsea inspection, maintenance, and repair (IMR) operations. Preventing loss of subsea assets and the AROV is the overall goal of the proposed safety envelopes and subsea traffic rules. Currently, no such envelopes and rules exist. The safety envelope for the AROV is constructed using an Octree method. The proposed subsea traffic rules are derived by combining existing traffic regulations in marine and aviation industries. The proposed safety envelopes and traffic rules are tested using both a novel modular open robot simulation engine (MORSE) based underwater simulator and in the laboratory. The results from the laboratory tests show that the proposed safety envelopes and subsea traffic rules can be used during simulated or real IMR operations to recommend subsea traffic rules to the AROV and the human supervisor.