Towards the Improvement of Autonomous Glider Navigational Accuracy Through the use of Regional Ocean Models

Autonomous underwater gliders are robust and widelyused ocean sampling platforms that are characterized by their endurance, and are one of the best approaches to gather subsurface data at the appropriate spatial resolution to advance our knowledge of the ocean environment. Gliders generally do not employ sophisticated sensors for underwater localization, but instead dead-reckon between set waypoints. Thus, these vehicles are subject to large positional errors between prescribed and actual surfacing locations. Here, we investigate the implementation of a large-scale, regional ocean model into the trajectory design for autonomous gliders to improve their navigational accuracy. We compute the dead-reckoning error for our Slocum gliders, and compare this to the average positional

[1]  Claudio De Persis,et al.  Proceedings of the 41st IEEE Conference on Decision and Control , 2002 .

[2]  Naomi Ehrich Leonard,et al.  Stabilization and coordination of underwater gliders , 2002, Proceedings of the 41st IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2002..

[3]  Naomi Ehrich Leonard,et al.  Model-based feedback control of autonomous underwater gliders , 2001 .

[4]  Stefan B. Williams,et al.  Analysis of an Autonomous Underwater Glider , 2008 .

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

[6]  David M. Fratantoni,et al.  Underwater Glider Model Parameter IdentiÞcation , 2003 .

[7]  Joshua Grady Graver,et al.  UNDERWATER GLIDERS: DYNAMICS, CONTROL AND DESIGN , 2005 .

[8]  Maria Letizia Corradini,et al.  IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology , 2004 .

[9]  Gaurav S. Sukhatme,et al.  Planning and Implementing Trajectories for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles to Track Evolving Ocean Processes Based on Predictions from a Regional Ocean Model , 2010, Int. J. Robotics Res..

[10]  Thor I. Fossen,et al.  Guidance and control of ocean vehicles , 1994 .

[11]  K. Ide,et al.  A Three-Dimensional Variational Data Assimilation Scheme for the Regional Ocean Modeling System , 2008 .

[12]  Hanumant Singh,et al.  Advances in Underwater Robot Vehicles for Deep Ocean Exploration: Navigation, Control, and Survey Operations , 2000 .

[13]  D. Smeed,et al.  Current measurements from autonomous underwater gliders , 2008, 2008 IEEE/OES 9th Working Conference on Current Measurement Technology.

[14]  K. Rajan,et al.  A Collaborative Portal for Ocean Observatories , 2006, OCEANS 2006.

[15]  Jeffrey K. Uhlmann,et al.  Unscented filtering and nonlinear estimation , 2004, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[16]  Alexander F. Shchepetkin,et al.  The regional oceanic modeling system (ROMS): a split-explicit, free-surface, topography-following-coordinate oceanic model , 2005 .

[17]  Naomi Ehrich Leonard,et al.  Cooperative Control for Ocean Sampling: The Glider Coordinated Control System , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology.

[18]  Frank L. Lewis,et al.  Aircraft Control and Simulation , 1992 .

[19]  Gaurav S. Sukhatme,et al.  Implementation of an embedded sensor network for the coordination of Slocum gliders for coastal monitoring and observation , 2009, WUWNet.

[20]  Gaurav S. Sukhatme,et al.  Trajectory Design for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles Based on Ocean Model Predictions for Feature Tracking , 2009, FSR.

[21]  Gaurav S. Sukhatme,et al.  Autonomous Underwater Vehicle trajectory design coupled with predictive ocean models: A case study , 2010, 2010 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[22]  Russ E. Davis,et al.  E 2008, by the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, Inc. Glider surveillance of physics and biology in the southern California Current System , 2022 .