Real-time localization for underwater equipment using an extremely low frequency electric field

Abstract

A new real-time underwater equipment location method adopting an electric field induced by a standard current source is proposed. Our goals were real-time tracking and location of stationary or moving underwater equipment both in shallow and deep seas, under noisy conditions. The main features of this method are as follows: (1) a standard current source on the water surface, which can be towed by a vehicle, consisting of two electrodes, a signal generator, and a GPS unit; (2) measurement of the extremely low frequency (ELF) electric field emitted by the current source, made possible by electric field sensors on the underwater equipment; (3) position of the underwater equipment is estimated in real time based on a progressive update extended Kalman filter (PUEKF), which is carried out using the propagation model of an ELF electric field because the electric field at the position of the underwater equipment and the current source position are known. We verified the accuracy of our method and confirmed real-time location feasibility through numerical, physical scale, and real-time sea experiments. Through numerical experiments, we verified that our method works for underwater equipment location in real-world conditions, and the location error can be less than 0.2 m. Next, real-time location experiments for stationary underwater measuring equipment in water tank were conducted. The result shows that the location error can be less than 0.1 m. We also confirmed real-time location feasibility through the use of offshore experiment. We expect that our method will complement conventional underwater acoustic location methods for underwater equipment in acoustically noisy environments.

Keywords

• Terms—Real-time tracking and location method
• Underwater equipment location
• ELF electric field
• Shallow sea
• Physical scale experiment
• Sea experiment