Simultaneous Multi-points Measurement in Underwater Acoustic Localization

Underwater acoustic localization is used for detecting three-dimensional positions in underwater vehicles such as remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). The ultra-short base-line (USBL) system measures a propagation time of sound wave from a transmitter to a receiver, where distance estimation and direction of arrival (DOA) estimation are performed. We investigate simultaneous multiple-point measurement by using multiple sound sources. For highly acoustic reflective environment, we apply the impulse response based generalized cross-correlation function (IR-GCC-PHAT) algorithm that gives higher positioning accuracy than the matched filter (MF) algorithm. The effectiveness of IR-GCC- PHAT has been proven in our experimental evaluation.