Sensors (Apr 2017)

Embedded Spherical Localization for Micro Underwater Vehicles Based on Attenuation of Electro-Magnetic Carrier Signals

  • Daniel-André Duecker,
  • A. René Geist,
  • Michael Hengeler,
  • Edwin Kreuzer,
  • Marc-André Pick,
  • Viktor Rausch,
  • Eugen Solowjow

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/s17050959
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 17, no. 5
p. 959

Abstract

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Self-localization is one of the most challenging problems for deploying micro autonomous underwater vehicles ( μ AUV) in confined underwater environments. This paper extends a recently-developed self-localization method that is based on the attenuation of electro-magnetic waves, to the μ AUV domain. We demonstrate a compact, low-cost architecture that is able to perform all signal processing steps present in the original method. The system is passive with one-way signal transmission and scales to possibly large μ AUV fleets. It is based on the spherical localization concept. We present results from static and dynamic position estimation experiments and discuss the tradeoffs of the system.

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