Relative localisation for AUV swarms

Abstract

In most robotic swarming applications each individual needs to know the positions and orientations of at least its near neighbours. One way of achieving this local estimate underwater is by means of wide-bandwidth acoustic signals of specific statistical characteristics (maximum length sequence -MLS). The principal capability of local posture estimation has been demonstrated. While previous results have been achieved offline, e.g. have not been available to the vehicles while being in the swarm, this article reports about the first on-line evaluation test-runs.