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A Preview of HoloOcean 2.0

Blake Romrell, Abigail Austin, Braden Meyers, Ryan Anderson, Carter Noh, Joshua G. Mangelson

TL;DR

The paper addresses the need for high-fidelity marine robotics simulation to support perception, navigation, and control research. It presents HoloOcean 2.0, a major upgrade integrating Unreal Engine 5.3, Fossen-based vehicle dynamics, and ROS2 for broader interoperability, along with new vehicles and foundational sensor capabilities. Key contributions include ray-casting sonar as a scalable alternative to octree-based methods, semantic ground-truth sensors for training, automatic environment generation with bathymetry support, volumetric current modeling, and plans for realistic wave dynamics. Together, these developments aim to accelerate algorithm development, hardware-in-the-loop testing, and large-scale simulation for marine robotics.

Abstract

Marine robotics simulators play a fundamental role in the development of marine robotic systems. With increased focus on the marine robotics field in recent years, there has been significant interest in developing higher fidelitysimulation of marine sensors, physics, and visual rendering capabilities to support autonomous marine robot development and validation. HoloOcean 2.0, the next major release of HoloOcean, brings state-of-the-art features under a general marine simulator capable of supporting a variety of tasks. New features in HoloOcean 2.0 include migration to Unreal Engine (UE) 5.3, advanced vehicle dynamics using models from Fossen, and support for ROS2 using a custom bridge. Additional features are currently in development, including significantly more efficient ray tracing-based sidescan, forward-looking, and bathymetric sonar implementations; semantic sensors; environment generation tools; volumetric environmental effects; and realistic waves.

A Preview of HoloOcean 2.0

TL;DR

The paper addresses the need for high-fidelity marine robotics simulation to support perception, navigation, and control research. It presents HoloOcean 2.0, a major upgrade integrating Unreal Engine 5.3, Fossen-based vehicle dynamics, and ROS2 for broader interoperability, along with new vehicles and foundational sensor capabilities. Key contributions include ray-casting sonar as a scalable alternative to octree-based methods, semantic ground-truth sensors for training, automatic environment generation with bathymetry support, volumetric current modeling, and plans for realistic wave dynamics. Together, these developments aim to accelerate algorithm development, hardware-in-the-loop testing, and large-scale simulation for marine robotics.

Abstract

Marine robotics simulators play a fundamental role in the development of marine robotic systems. With increased focus on the marine robotics field in recent years, there has been significant interest in developing higher fidelitysimulation of marine sensors, physics, and visual rendering capabilities to support autonomous marine robot development and validation. HoloOcean 2.0, the next major release of HoloOcean, brings state-of-the-art features under a general marine simulator capable of supporting a variety of tasks. New features in HoloOcean 2.0 include migration to Unreal Engine (UE) 5.3, advanced vehicle dynamics using models from Fossen, and support for ROS2 using a custom bridge. Additional features are currently in development, including significantly more efficient ray tracing-based sidescan, forward-looking, and bathymetric sonar implementations; semantic sensors; environment generation tools; volumetric environmental effects; and realistic waves.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 14 sections, 8 figures, 2 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. New Features in HoloOcean 2.0
  3. Migration to Unreal Engine 5.3
  4. Improved Vehicle Dynamics
  5. ROS2 Bridge
  6. New Vehicles
  7. Features in Development
  8. New Sensors
  9. Ray Casting Sonar
  10. Semantic Sensors
  11. Environment Generation
  12. Environment Volumetric Effects
  13. Realistic Waves
  14. Conclusion

Figures (8)

  • Figure 1: HoloOcean 2.0 incorporates state-of-the-art features such as enhanced visuals with UE 5.3, support for ROS2, and advanced vehicle dynamics.
  • Figure 2: Comparison of environment rendering in UE 4.27 and UE 5.3. From left to right: (1) original Dam environment in UE 4.27, (2) upgraded Dam environment in UE 5.3, (3) Pier Harbor environment in UE 4.27, (4) Pier Harbor environment in UE 5.3.
  • Figure 3: Flow diagram demonstrating the the use of Fossen dynamic and the HoloOcean ROS2 bridge in HoloOcean 2.0.
  • Figure 4: The HoloOcean ROS2 bridge can be used to perform hardware-in-the-loop simulations as demonstrated above.
  • Figure 5: Marine robotics platforms available in HoloOcean. From left to right: a surface vessel, Hovering AUV, Torpedo AUV, BlueROV2, and CoUG-UV.
  • ...and 3 more figures