Underwater Acoustic Imaging using Autonomous Vehicles

Abstract

This paper studies the underwater acoustic imaging problem using a fleet of autonomous vehicles. Integration of a guidance/control scheme and acoustic imaging process is discussed. A sensor model based on the acoustic sensor's beam pattern is presented. The goal is to obtain an accurate enough image of an underwater profile using a fleet of autonomous vehicles. The dynamic coverage control law used in this paper guarantees that a desired amount of satisfactory quality samples will be collected at every point. Numerical simulations are presented to illustrate the main results.