Sea experimentation of single beacon simultaneous localization and communication for AUV navigation

Autonomous underwater vehicles localization is a challenging task due to the harsh environment of the underwater propagation channel. To reach accurate positioning, it is often required to use either a complex architecture or costly sensors. In this paper we provide the experimental results of a cost-effective technique combining underwater acoustic communication and localization through Doppler shift estimation that provides information on receiver relative speed. We consider a fixed anchor with known position transmitting regularly to a moving boat in water at a constant depth of 2 meters in a range up to 800 meters. Using an Extended Kalman filter, we compare standalone range measurements estimation with speed and range combined in the estimation filter. Experimental results demonstrate a consequent gain using speed computation associated with range measurement and a good accuracy on positioning results.