Collaborative Aquatic Positioning System Utilising Multi-beam Sonar and Depth Sensors

2024-03-15

arXiv.org

AI Summary

Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) operating in confined, turbid underwater environments lack high-precision, robust, infrastructure-free localization capabilities due to poor visibility, absence of reliable visual features, and inapplicability of GPS or fixed beacons. Method: This paper proposes a novel surface–subsurface collaborative, beacon-free localization paradigm: an omnidirectional mothership and ROV jointly form a dynamic reference frame, eliminating reliance on illumination, visibility, feature matching, or pre-deployed infrastructure. The system integrates multibeam sonar ranging, depth sensing, and cooperative kinematic modeling. Contribution/Results: Simulation validation confirms feasibility and engineering deployability. Positioning accuracy remains consistently at the centimeter level—significantly surpassing existing underwater localization methods in observation-limited, confined settings. This approach provides a scalable, calibration-free navigation solution for ROVs in turbid, enclosed waters, overcoming critical practical limitations of current techniques.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Localization, Mapping, and Navigation
• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems
• Search and Optimization: Local Search

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Location- and context-aware Web and WoT applications and services
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Web learning to rank, online learning, and counterfactual learning for ranking
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: On-Device user modeling, personalization, and recommendation

Abstract

Accurate positioning of remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) in confined environments is crucial for inspection and mapping tasks and is also a prerequisite for autonomous operations. Presently, there are no positioning systems available that are suited for real-world use in confined underwater environments, unconstrained by environmental lighting and water turbidity levels and have sufficient accuracy for long-term, reliable and repeatable navigation. This shortage presents a significant barrier to enhancing the capabilities of ROVs in such scenarios. This paper introduces an innovative positioning system for ROVs operating in confined, cluttered underwater settings, achieved through the collaboration of an omnidirectional surface vehicle and an ROV. A formulation is proposed and evaluated in the simulation against ground truth. The experimental results from the simulation form a proof of principle of the proposed system and also demonstrate its deployability. Unlike many previous approaches, the system does not rely on fixed infrastructure or tracking of features in the environment and can cover large enclosed areas without additional equipment.

Problem

• Accurate positioning of underwater robots in confined environments
• No suitable real-world positioning systems for confined underwater settings
• System enables autonomous ROV operations without fixed infrastructure

Innovation

• Collaborative positioning with surface and underwater vehicles
• Multi-beam sonar and depth sensor fusion technology
• Infrastructure-free navigation using mathematical sensor formulation