Minimizing position uncertainty for under-ice autonomous underwater vehicles

Localization underwater has been known to be challenging due to the limited accessibility of the Global Positioning System (GPS) to obtain absolute positions. This becomes more severe in the under-ice environment since the ocean surface is covered with ice, making it more difficult to access GPS or to deploy localization infrastructure. In this paper, a novel solution that minimizes localization uncertainty and communication overhead of under-ice Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) is proposed. Existing underwater localization solutions generally rely on reference nodes at ocean surface or on localization infrastructure to calculate positions, and they are not able to estimate the localization uncertainty, which may lead to the increase of localization error. In contrast, using the notion of external uncertainty (i.e., the position uncertainty as seen by others), our solution can characterize an AUV's position with a probability model. This model is further used to estimate the uncertainty associated with our proposed localization techniques. Based on this uncertainty estimate, we further propose algorithms to minimize localization uncertainty and communication overhead. Our solution is emulated and compared against existing solutions, showing improved performance.

[1]  Mario Gerla,et al.  Localization with Dive'N'Rise (DNR) beacons for underwater acoustic sensor networks , 2007, Underwater Networks.

[2]  Baozhi Chen,et al.  Trajectory-Aware Communication Solution for Underwater Gliders Using WHOI Micro-Modems , 2010, 2010 7th Annual IEEE Communications Society Conference on Sensor, Mesh and Ad Hoc Communications and Networks (SECON).

[3]  Oscar Schofield,et al.  Slocum Gliders: Robust and ready: Research Articles , 2007 .

[4]  James E. Barger,et al.  Underwater acoustic system analysis , 1985, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[5]  Richard F. Davis,et al.  Under-ice observations of water column temperature, salinity and spring phytoplankton dynamics: Eastern Bering Sea shelf , 1998 .

[6]  M. Gerla,et al.  AUV-Aided Localization for Underwater Sensor Networks , 2007, International Conference on Wireless Algorithms, Systems and Applications (WASA 2007).

[7]  Peter S. Maybeck,et al.  Stochastic Models, Estimation And Control , 2012 .

[8]  Dario Pompili,et al.  A cross-layer communication solution for multimedia applications in underwater acoustic sensor networks , 2008, 2008 5th IEEE International Conference on Mobile Ad Hoc and Sensor Systems.

[9]  Baozhi Chen,et al.  Team formation and steering algorithms for underwater gliders using acoustic communications , 2012, Comput. Commun..

[10]  Robert J. Urick,et al.  Principles of underwater sound , 1975 .

[11]  Jiang Li,et al.  On the Performance of Location-Centric Storage in Sensor Networks , 2007, International Conference on Wireless Algorithms, Systems and Applications (WASA 2007).

[12]  Oscar Schofield,et al.  Slocum Gliders: Robust and ready , 2007, J. Field Robotics.

[13]  Winston Khoon Guan Seah,et al.  Localization in underwater sensor networks: survey and challenges , 2006, Underwater Networks.

[14]  C. C. Eriksen,et al.  Seaglider: a long-range autonomous underwater vehicle for oceanographic research , 2001 .

[15]  P. Willett,et al.  MIMO-OFDM for High-Rate Underwater Acoustic Communications , 2009, IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering.

[16]  Curt Schurgers,et al.  Collaborative tracking in mobile underwater networks , 2009, WUWNet '09.

[17]  John J. Leonard,et al.  Cooperative AUV Navigation using a Single Maneuvering Surface Craft , 2010, Int. J. Robotics Res..

[18]  Kenneth A. Perrine,et al.  Doppler estimation and correction for shallow underwater acoustic communications , 2010, 2010 Conference Record of the Forty Fourth Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems and Computers.

[19]  Curt Schurgers,et al.  Motion-aware self-localization for underwater networks , 2008, Underwater Networks.

[20]  Dario Pompili,et al.  Underwater acoustic sensor networks: research challenges , 2005, Ad Hoc Networks.

[21]  M. Melamed.  Detection , 2021, SETI: Astronomy as a Contact Sport.

[22]  N E Manos,et al.  Stochastic Models , 1960, Encyclopedia of Social Network Analysis and Mining. 2nd Ed..

[23]  A. M. Suvorov,et al.  Mapping currents in the northern Black Sea using OLT-type profilers , 1999, Proceedings of the IEEE Sixth Working Conference on Current Measurement (Cat. No.99CH36331).

[24]  Shengli Zhou,et al.  Detection, Synchronization, and Doppler Scale Estimation with Multicarrier Waveforms in Underwater Acoustic Communication , 2008, OCEANS 2008 - MTS/IEEE Kobe Techno-Ocean.

[25]  Dario Pompili,et al.  Task allocation for networked autonomous underwater vehicles in critical missions , 2010, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications.

[26]  R. Houde,et al.  Implementation of a ROV navigation system using acoustic/Doppler sensors and Kalman filtering , 2003, Oceans 2003. Celebrating the Past ... Teaming Toward the Future (IEEE Cat. No.03CH37492).

[27]  Rudolph van der Merwe,et al.  The square-root unscented Kalman filter for state and parameter-estimation , 2001, 2001 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing. Proceedings (Cat. No.01CH37221).

[28]  Baozhi Chen,et al.  Uncertainty-aware localization solution for under-ice autonomous underwater vehicles , 2012, 2012 9th Annual IEEE Communications Society Conference on Sensor, Mesh and Ad Hoc Communications and Networks (SECON).

[29]  D. Pompili,et al.  A QoS-Aware Underwater Optimization Framework for Inter-Vehicle Communication using Acoustic Directional Transducers , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications.

[30]  L. Whitcomb,et al.  A SURVEY OF UNDERWATER VEHICLE NAVIGATION : RECENT ADVANCES AND NEW CHALLENGES , 2006 .

[31]  Baozhi Chen,et al.  QUO VADIS: QoS-aware underwater optimization framework for inter-vehicle communication using acoustic directional transducers , 2011, 2011 8th Annual IEEE Communications Society Conference on Sensor, Mesh and Ad Hoc Communications and Networks.