Improving autonomous underwater vehicle navigation using inter-vehicle ranging

Jesse Pentzer, Eric Wolbrecht

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

    Abstract

    One-way-travel-time (OWTT) acoustic ranging has received considerable attention as improvements to acoustic modems and electronic clocks have made it a feasible navigation tool. This paper reports the results of simulations investigating the effect of utilizing inter-vehicle ranging for autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) navigation. In these simulations, a fleet of AUVs operates in shallow water with a pair of fixed transponders. A rigid timing cycle for acoustic communications was implemented with a message queuing approach to simulate the handicaps of underwater acoustic communication. Furthermore, a simple path following algorithm was used to navigate the AUVs through a waypoint course, and a kinematic motion model was used to simulate AUV movement. The position of each vehicle in the fleet was estimated independently by combining the propagation steps of an extended Kalman filter with the update equations of an extended information filter. Results of the simulations showed the addition of inter-vehicle ranging improved accuracy by 1-2 cm when navigating using four fixed transponders and by 9-24 cm when navigating using two fixed transponders.

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Title of host publicationOCEANS 2012 MTS/IEEE
    Subtitle of host publicationHarnessing the Power of the Ocean
    DOIs
    StatePublished - 2012
    EventOCEANS 2012 MTS/IEEE Hampton Roads Conference: Harnessing the Power of the Ocean - Virginia Beach, VA, United States
    Duration: Oct 14 2012Oct 19 2012

    Publication series

    NameOCEANS 2012 MTS/IEEE: Harnessing the Power of the Ocean

    Other

    OtherOCEANS 2012 MTS/IEEE Hampton Roads Conference: Harnessing the Power of the Ocean
    Country/TerritoryUnited States
    CityVirginia Beach, VA
    Period10/14/1210/19/12

    All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

    • Ocean Engineering

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