AUV Terrain-Aided Navigation using a Doppler Velocity Logger

Abstract

The potential of terrain-aided navigation (TAN) of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) has been demonstrated in the last ten years in a series of trials where high localization accuracy was obtained during long periods of time in different types of terrain. Despite these recent advances, it is recognized by the navigation community that further research is necessary to transform TAN into a mature navigation methodology. The present paper describes the work developed towards the development of terrain navigation methods for small AUVs, relying on standard navigation sensors and dispensing with the need of dedicated sensors for terrain data acquisition. The research described addresses the problem of implementation of terrain navigation in underwater scenarios characterized by smooth sea-bottom topography and very shallow water, where the terrain information available for navigation is scarce. The TAN algorithms and the data fusion methods whose tests are documented in the paper build upon prior theoretical work published by the authors. The experimental results reported were obtained recently through trials in the water performed with an autonomous surface vehicle acting as a proxy to an AUV.