Experimental validation of the moving long base-line navigation concept

Abstract

This paper presents the Moving Long Base-Line (MLBC) navigation concept as well as simulation and experimental results. This multiple vehicle navigation technique consists of using vehicles fitted with accurate navigation systems as moving reference transponders to which other vehicles, fitted with less capahle navigation systems, can acoustically range to update their position. Reliable acoustic communications are mandatory for the real time implementation of this navigation scheme. However, while enabling MLBL, acoustic communications reduce the range update rate and introduce delays that need to be dealt with in the navigation algorithm. Simulation results show that relative navigation accuracy between vehicles can be maintained although the absolute navigation accuracy of each vehicle decreases over time. This is a key enabling factor for AOFNC missions where contacts are called by vehicles and re-acquired by other vehicles in real-time.

Simultaneous Localization and Mapping in Marine Environments

“…This was proposed by Vaganay et al [75] and extended by Bahr et al [1,2]. This concept envisaged the ASVs transmitting acoustic modem messages containing their GPS positions paired with a modemestimated range to the AUV which could then uniquely fix its position while maintaining full mobility-which is not afforded by typical LBL positioning.…”

Advances in decentralized single-beacon acoustic navigation for underwater vehicles: Theory and simulation

“…In [2] the author presents a method that allows a vehicle running a Bayes estimator to use range and position information broadcast from one or more moving beacons. This work expands on the moving long baseline concept in [24] to encompass multiple range sources and real-time operation. The authors of [19] address a similar concept to moving long baseline and compare the use of the Kalman filter to a particle filter on the vehicle's localization performance.…”

An Exact Decentralized Cooperative Navigation Algorithm for Acoustically Networked Underwater Vehicles with Robustness to Faulty Communication: Theory and Experiment

“…Several other works in acoustic cooperative underwater navigation have emerged for fusing OWTT-based relative ranges between teams of vehicles [1,2,8,10,16,17,25]. These methods, however, generally trade off between offline and consistent, or real-time and inconsistent.…”

“…Simple, real-time algorithms that require minimal bandwidth are within the egocentric class of filters [11,16,25]. These algorithms scale by treating each relative observation as independent and only require the transmitter's current position estimate.…”