Abstract: Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) play an important role in a number of shallow and deepwater missions for marine science, oil and gas extraction, exploration and salvage. In these applications, the motions of the ROV are guided either by a human piloton a surface support vessel through an umbilical cord providing power and telemetry, or by an automatic pilot. In the case of automatic control, ROV state feedback is provided by acoustic and inertial sensors and this state information, along with a controller strategy, is used to perform several tasks such as station-keeping and auto immersion/heading, among others.

Keywords: Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), tether management system (TMS)