Exteroceptive Sensors for Autonomous Navigation Vehicles: A Review

Abstract

Autonomous navigation vehicles are increasingly used in aerospace, marine, and subterranean operations, including aerial inspection, underwater exploration, search-and-rescue missions, and infrastructure monitoring in GNSS-denied environments. Exteroceptive sensors are used in these systems by enabling mapping, localization, obstacle detection, path planning, and real-time decision-making. The exteroceptive sensors include LiDAR, sonar, monocular cameras, stereo cameras, RGB-D cameras, laser scanners, ultrasonic sensors, and radar. However, for autonomous navigation vehicle tasks, LiDAR, sonar, radar, RGB-D, stereo, and monocular cameras are suitable due to their accuracy, reliability, and ability to provide detailed environmental perception. Recent advancements have facilitated the development of diverse principles and architectures designed to enhance accuracy, scanning efficiency, and compactness. Each of these variants has specific advantages and limitations, which must be carefully considered in the development of applications in autonomous navigation vehicles. This review presents an overview of exteroceptive sensors for ground, underwater, and aerial autonomous vehicles, highlighting operating principles, architectures, and recent technological advances. This review analyzes advantages, limitations, and applications to provide a valuable reference for students, engineers, and researchers aiming to design efficient, adaptive, and accurate autonomous navigation systems across diverse environments.