On the accuracy of passive multipath-aided underwater range estimation

We consider a range estimation algorithm based on the time-of-arrival differences between multipath replicas of a signal transmitted by an anchor node of known location to a silent node that needs to localize itself. We consider the geometry of the problem in the simplified case of a constant sound speed profile (SSP), and argue that the more realistic case of a non-constant SSP can be still tackled as if the SSP were constant, provided that an “effective” sound speed value is computed based on the geometry of the signal propagation. We finally evaluate the accuracy of the latter approach in the presence of errors affecting different quantities required for the range estimation process, including the TDoA values and the bottom depth. Our results show that our approach offers improved accuracy with respect to a baseline LSE estimator.