Determination of Integrated Navigation System Requirements for a Shallow Water AUV Using Off The Shelf Hardware

Philip C. Franco, Melvyn A. Levrant, and Erwin H. Nosenchuk

Abstract:	There is a current need for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) to support various naval missions, some of which are covert in nature. These missions require an accurate knowledge of position, velocity and attitude to support bottom mapping, environmental data gathering, object identification/location and monitoring functions. This paper presents the results of simulation studies that document the current state of the art capabilities to provide accurate navigation information to support AUV missions. An integrated navigation suite was utilized and was composed of an inertial navigator, Doppler velocity log, GPS receiver, depth sensor and processor incorporating a Kalman filter. The equipment considered in this study are representative of those suitable for an AUV based on size and power constraints. The paper documents the error models used in the simulation as well as assumptions made with associated rationale. The simulation studies were conducted for different mission scenarios including long endurance missions requiring covert AUV operation. The effects of initial sensor and system calibration, vehicle speed, ship maneuvers, geophysical effects, availability of accurate position fixes and zero velocity update (AUV sitting on the bottom) is provided. Sensitivity of navigation performance to improved sensor capabilities was also studied. The improved error models used and the results obtained are presented. This serves as a basis for determining the most productive areas for improving navigation performance.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 1999 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation January 25 - 27, 1999 Catamaran Resort Hotel San Diego, CA
Pages:	489 - 494
Cite this article:	Franco, Philip C., Levrant, Melvyn A., Nosenchuk, Erwin H., "Determination of Integrated Navigation System Requirements for a Shallow Water AUV Using Off The Shelf Hardware," Proceedings of the 1999 National Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation, San Diego, CA, January 1999, pp. 489-494.
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