SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR NAVIGATION FOR UNMANNED UNDERSEA VEHICLES

摘要

System and method for navigating an unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) using three-dimensional acoustic reflectivity data sets and a beam steered downward looking sonar capturing sub-bottom features and creating three-dimensional representations to compare with the reflectivity data sets to general navigation corrections. Acoustically senses and exploits sub-bottom features for navigation of UUVs that can provide more reliable navigation than using surface features alone, since much of the sea floor is flat (e.g. on continental shelves and abyssal plains).

主权项

1. A method for navigating an unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) equipped with a beam steered downward looking sonar, the method comprising:
receiving a plurality of three-dimensional acoustic reflectivity reference data sets, each of the plurality of reference data sets being associated with a reference location; receiving sonar data and other sensed data, the sonar data resulting from at least one sub-bottom feature; accumulating the sonar data to produce a three-dimensional representation of the at least one sub-bottom feature; locating a match between the three-dimensional representation and one of the plurality of reference data sets, the match having a match location; and combining the match location with the other sensed data to navigate the UUV.