Navigation Requirements for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

J. S. Stambaugb and R. B. Tbibault

Abstract:	The specification and design of a navigation system for use on an autonomous underwater vehicle (AW) must be conducted as an integral part of the top-level vehicle design process. This paper discusses the physical characteristics of the navigation system which are likely to have the largest impact on the overall performance of the vehicle. The suite of on-board equipment required to support the vehicle is a function of the types of missions and tasks that the vehicle is required to perform. Generic tasks that an autonomous vehicle might be expected to perform are identified. Various figures-of-merit that may be used to generate navigation accuracy requirements for each task are proposed. These accuracy requirements are then analyzed to match the types and capabilities of equipment to be included in the navigation subsystem with the desired vehicle task capabilities. Considered among these equipment types are an inertial navigation unit (INU), sonar velocity log (SVL), and acoustic transponder navigation system (ATN). In general, the outputs of several equipment types need to be combined in order to achieve the desired performance. The expected contribution of the various equipments in an integrated navigation subsystem are identified. The principal error propagations that remain after integrating the navigation equipments are discussed. Techniques for significantly decreasing the sensitivity to some potential error sources are described. The derivation of equations that relate the task- relevant figures of merit to the contribution of principal error sources is discussed. These equations can be used to derive equipment p-erfommnce specifications. In some cases, “off-the-shelf” equipment is available which will support vehicle requirements. However, most of this equipment was not originally designed for an AW application. This paper identifies areas where improvements can be made in order to better support AW requirements.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 47th Annual Meeting of The Institute of Navigation (1991) June 10 - 12, 1991 Williamsburg Hilton and National Conference Center Williamsburg, VA
Pages:	231 - 236
Cite this article:	Updated citation: Published in NAVIGATION: Journal of the Institute of Navigation
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