Optimal Sensor Placement for Multiple Underwater Target Localization with Acoustic Range Measurements

Abstract

AbstractWorldwide, there is increasing interest in the operation of multiple autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to carry out scientific and commercial missions at sea. For some of the envisioned missions, it is crucial that new methods be developed to localize one more of the vehicles simultaneously, based on acoustic range information received on-board a set of autonomous surface vehicles. As a contribution towards meeting this goal, this paper addresses the problem of computing the optimal geometric configuration of a mobile surface sensor network that will maximize the range-related information available for multiple target localization in three-dimensional space. In contrast to what has so far been published in the literature, we address explicitly the localization problem in 3D using a sensor array located at the sea surface (2D). Furthermore, we incorporate directly in the problem formulation the fact that multiple targets must be localized simultaneously. Clearly, there will be tradeoffs involved in the precision with which each of the targets can be localized; to study them, we resort to techniques that borrow from Pareto optimization and estimation theory. Simulation examples illustrate the key results derived.