Search Results (20)

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) are widely used for hydrological monitoring, underwater exploration, and geological surveys. However, AUVs face limitations in underwater navigation due to the high costs associated with Strapdown Inertial Navigation System (SINS) and Doppler Velocity Log (DVL), hindering the development of low-cost vehicles. Micro Electro Mechanical System Inertial Measurement Units (MEMS IMUs) are widely used in industry due to their low cost and can output acceleration and angular velocity, making them suitable as an Attitude Heading Reference System (AHRS) for low-cost vehicles. However, poorly calibrated MEMS IMUs provide an inaccurate angular velocity, leading to rapid drift in orientation. In underwater environments where AUVs cannot use GPS for position correction, this drift can have severe consequences. To address this issue, this paper proposes Underwater Gyros Denoising Net (UGDN), a method based on dilated convolutions and LSTM that learns and extracts the spatiotemporal features of IMU sequences to dynamically compensate for the gyroscope’s angular velocity measurements, reducing attitude and heading errors. In the experimental section of this paper, we deployed this method on a dataset collected from field trials and achieved significant results. The experimental results show that the accuracy of MEMS IMU data denoised by UGDN approaches that of fiber-optic SINS, and when integrated with DVL, it can serve as a low-cost underwater navigation solution. Full article

This paper proposes an improved adaptive filtering algorithm based on the Sage–Husa adaptive Kalman filtering algorithm to address the issue of measurement noise characteristics impacting the navigation accuracy in strapdown inertial navigation system (SINS)/Doppler Velocity Log (DVL) integrated navigation systems. Addressing the non-positive definite matrix problem prevalent in traditional adaptive filtering algorithms and aiming to enhance measurement noise estimation accuracy, this method incorporates upper and lower thresholds determined by a discrimination factor. In the presence of abnormal measurement data, these thresholds are utilized to adjust the covariance of the innovation, subsequently re-estimating the system’s measurement noise through a decision factor based on the innovation. Simulation and experiment results demonstrate that the proposed improved adaptive filtering algorithm outperforms the classical Kalman filter (KF) in terms of navigation accuracy and stability. Furthermore, the filtering performance surpasses that of the Sage–Husa algorithm. The simulation results in this paper show that the relative position positioning error of the improved method is reduced by 49.44% compared with the Sage–Husa filtering method. Full article

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) equipped with Side-Scan Sonar (SSS) play a critical role in seabed mapping, where precise navigation data are essential for mosaicking sonar images to delineate the seafloor’s topography and feature locations. However, the accuracy of AUV navigation, based on Strapdown Inertial Navigation System (SINS)/Doppler Velocity Log (DVL) systems, tends to degrade over long-term mapping, which compromises the quality of sonar image mosaics. This study addresses the challenge by introducing a post-processing navigation method for AUV SSS surveys, utilizing Factor Graph Optimization (FGO). Specifically, the method utilizes an improved Fourier-based image registration algorithm to generate more robust relative position measurements. Then, through the integration of these measurements with data from SINS, DVL, and surface Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) within the FGO framework, the approach notably enhances the accuracy of the complete trajectory for AUV missions. Finally, the proposed method has been validated through both the simulation and AUV marine experiments. Full article

The integrated navigation system based on the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) in conjunction with the strapdown inertial navigation system (SINS) and the Doppler Velocity Logger (DVL) is essential for accurate and long-distance navigation in maritime environments. However, the error of the integrated navigation system gradually diverges due to the inevitable velocity measurement error of DVL when GNSS outages occur. To ensure the high navigational accuracy and stability of SINS, it is necessary to dynamically adjust the damping state of SINS provided externally. In this paper, we have developed a novel method for damping state switching based on machine learning with SINS. We construct a model of the change in reference velocity error and use sliding window technology to obtain the reference velocity error for model training. Before training, the digital compass loop is designed to process and highlight the change in reference velocity change errors. In order to reduce the impact of the damping switching, a variable damping system is used to transform the traditional one-time switching of the damping coefficient into a gradual switching, effectively reducing the impact of a sudden change in the damping coefficient on the system. Simulation experiments and tests on ships show that the proposed method effectively reduces the overshoot error integrated underwater during state switching. This research is of great importance for the optimal design of integrated underwater navigation systems. Full article

For seabed mapping, the prevalence of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) employing side-scan sonar (SSS) necessitates robust navigation solutions. However, the positioning errors of traditional strapdown inertial navigation system (SINS) and Doppler velocity log (DVL) systems accumulated significantly, further exacerbated by DVL’s susceptibility to failure in complex underwater conditions. This research proposes an integrated navigation approach that utilizes factor graph optimization (FGO) along with an improved pre-integration technique integrating SSS-derived position measurements. Firstly, the reliability of SSS image registration in the presence of strong noise and feature-poor environments is improved by replacing the feature-based methods with a Fourier-based method. Moreover, the high-precision inertial measurement unit (IMU) pre-integration method could correct the heading errors of SINS significantly by considering the Earth’s rotation. Finally, the AUV’s marine experimental results demonstrated that the proposed integration method not only offers improved SSS image registration and corrects initial heading discrepancies but also delivers greater system stability, particularly in instances of DVL data loss. Full article

The strap-down inertial navigation system (SINS) and Doppler velocity log (DVL) integrated navigation system are widely used for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). Whereas DVL works in the water tracking mode, the velocity provided by DVL is relative to the current layer and cannot be directly used to suppress the divergence of SINS errors. Therefore, the estimation and compensation of the ocean current velocity play an essential role in improving navigation positioning accuracy. In recent works, ocean currents are considered constant over a short term in small areas. In the common KF algorithm with the ocean current as a state vector, the current velocity cannot be estimated because the current velocity and the SINS velocity error are coupled. In this paper, two virtual metrology filter (VMF) methods are proposed for estimating the velocity of ocean currents based on the properties that the currents remain unchanged at the adjacent moments. New measurement equations are constructed to decouple the current velocity and the SINS velocity error, respectively. Simulations and lake tests show that both proposed methods are effective in estimating the current velocity, and each has its advantages in estimating the ocean current velocity or the misalignment angle. Full article

For an underwater Strapdown Inertial Navigation System/Doppler velocity log (SINS/DVL) integrated navigation system, the short-term failure of DVL may lead to the loss of reliable external velocity information from DVL, which will cause the SINS errors to accumulate. To circumvent this problem, this paper proposes a velocity predictor based on fuzzy multi-output least squares support vector machine (FMLS-SVM) to predict DVL measurements when DVL malfunctions occur. Firstly, the single-output least squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) model is extended to the multi-output LS-SVM model (MLS-SVM), and the self-adaptive fuzzy membership is introduced to fuzzify the input samples to overcome the over-fitting problem caused by the excessive sensitivity to the outlier points. Secondly, the fuzzy membership function is designed from the idea of the K nearest neighbor (KNN) algorithm. Finally, considering the influence of vehicle maneuver on the prediction model of DVL, the dynamic attitude angles are extended to the input samples of the prediction model to improve the adaptability of the DVL prediction model under large maneuver conditions. The performance of the method is verified by lake experiments. The comparison results show that the velocity predictor based on FMLS-SVM can correctly provide the estimated DVL measurements, effectively prolong the fault tolerance time of DVL faults, and improve the accuracy and reliability of the SINS/DVL integrated navigation system. Full article

Underwater vehicles are key carriers for underwater inspection and operation tasks, and the successful implementation of these tasks depends on the positioning and navigation equipment with corresponding accuracy. In practice, multiple positioning and navigation devices are often combined to integrate the advantages of each equipment. Currently, the most common method for integrated navigation is combination of the Strapdown Inertial Navigation System (SINS) and Doppler Velocity Log (DVL). Various errors will occur when SINS and DVL are combined together, such as installation declination. In addition, DVL itself also has errors in the measurement of speed. These errors will affect the final accuracy of the combined positioning and navigation system. Therefore, error correction technology has great significance for underwater inspection and operation tasks. This paper takes the SINS/DVL integrated positioning and navigation system as the research object and deeply studies the DVL error correction technology in the integrated system. Full article

Navigation and positioning of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) in the complex and changeable marine environment are crucial and challenging. For the positioning of AUVs, the integrated navigation of the strap-down inertial navigation system (SINS), Doppler velocity log (DVL), and pressure sensor (PS) has a common application. Nevertheless, in the complex underwater environment, the DVL performance is affected by the current and complex terrain environments. The outliers in sensor observations also have a substantial adverse effect on the AUV positioning accuracy. To address these issues, in this paper, a novel tightly integrated navigation model of the SINS, DVL, and PS is established. In contrast to the traditional SINS, DVL, and PS tightly integrated navigation methods, the proposed method in this paper is based on the velocity variation of the DVL beam by applying the DVL bottom-track and water-track models. Furthermore, a new robust interacting multiple models (RIMM) information fusion algorithm is proposed. In this algorithm, DVL beam anomaly is detected, and the Markov transfer probability matrix is accordingly updated to enable quick model matching. By simulating the motion of the AUV in a complex underwater environment, we also compare the performance of the traditional loosely integrated navigation (TLIN) model, the tightly integrated navigation (TTIN) model, and the IMM algorithm. The simulation results show that because of the PS, the velocity and height in the up-change amplitude of the four algorithms are small. Compared with the TLIN algorithm in terms of maximum deviation of latitude and longitude, the RIMM algorithm also improves the accuracy by 39.1243 m and 26.4364 m, respectively. Furthermore, compared with the TTIN algorithm, the RIMM algorithm improves latitude and longitude accuracy by 1.8913 m and 11.8274 m, respectively. A comparison with IMM also shows that RIMM improves the accuracy of latitude and longitude by 1.1506 m and 7.2301 m, respectively. The results confirm that the proposed algorithm suppresses the observed noise and outliers of DVL and further achieves quick conversion between different DVL models while making full use of the effective information of the DVL beams. The proposed method also improves the navigation accuracy of AUVs in complex underwater environments. Full article

In response to the lack of specific demonstration and analysis of the research on the necessity of the Lie group strapdown inertial integrated navigation error model based on the Euler angle, two common integrated navigation systems, strapdown inertial navigation system/global navigation satellite system (SINS/GNSS) and strapdown inertial navigation system/doppler velocity log (SINS/DVL), are used as subjects, and the piecewise constant system (PWCS) matrix, based on the Lie group error model, is established. From three aspects of variance estimation, the observability and performance of the system with large misalignment angles for low, medium, and high accuracy levels, traditional error model, Lie group left error model, and right error model are compared. The necessity of research on Lie group error model is analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The experimental results show that Lie group error model has better stability of variance estimation, estimation accuracy, and observability than traditional error model, as well as higher practical value. Full article

The navigation performance of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) as the main tool for exploring the ocean greatly affects its work efficiency. Under the circumstance that high-precision GNSS positioning signals cannot be obtained, the role of the Strapdown Inertial Navigation System/Doppler Velocity Log (SINS/DVL) integrated navigation system is becoming more prominent. Due to marine creatures or the seafloor topography, DVL is prone to outliers or even failures during measurement. To solve these problems, a LSTM/SVR-VBAKF algorithm aided integrated navigation system is proposed. First, under normal circumstances of DVL, the output information of SINS and DVL are used as training samples, and they train the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) model. To enhance the robustness and adaptability of the filter, a novel variational Bayesian adaptive filtering algorithm based on support vector regression is proposed. When the DVL formation is missing, the deep learning method adopted in this paper will be continuously output to ensure the effect of integrated navigation. The shipboard test data is verified from two aspects: filter performance and neural network-assisted integrated navigation system capability. The experimental results show that the new method proposed in this paper can effectively handle a situation where DVL output is not available. Full article

As an important means of underwater navigation and positioning, the accuracy of SINS/DVL integrated navigation system greatly affects the efficiency of underwater work. Considering the complexity and change of the underwater environment, it is necessary to enhance the robustness and adaptability of the SINS/DVL integrated navigation system. Therefore, this paper proposes a new adaptive filter based on support vector regression. The method abandons the elimination of outliers generated by Doppler Velocity Logger (DVL) in the measurement process from the inside of the filter in the form of probability density function modeling. Instead, outliers are eliminated from the perspective of external sensors, which effectively improves the robustness of the filter. At the same time, a new Variational Bayesian (VB) strategy is adopted to reduce the influence of inaccurate process noise and measurement noise, and improve the adaptiveness of the filter. Their advantages complement each other, effectively improve the stability of filter. Simulation and ship-borne tests are carried out. The test results show that the method proposed in this paper has higher navigation accuracy. Full article

High accuracy and reliable navigation in the underwater environment is very critical for the operations of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). This paper proposes an adaptive federated interacting multiple model (IMM) filter, which combines adaptive federated filter and IMM algorithm for AUV in complex underwater environments. Based on the performance of each local system, the information sharing coefficient of the adaptive federated IMM filter is adaptively determined. Meanwhile, the adaptive federated IMM filter designs different models for each local system. When the external disturbances change, the model of each local system can switch in real-time. Furthermore, an AUV integrated navigation system model is constructed, which includes the dynamic model of the system error and the measurement models of strapdown inertial navigation system/Doppler velocity log (SINS/DVL) and SINS/terrain aided navigation (SINS/TAN). The integrated navigation experiments demonstrate that the proposed filter can dramatically improve the accuracy and reliability of the integrated navigation system. Additionally, it has obvious advantages compared with the federated Kalman filter and the adaptive federated Kalman filter. Full article

Because of the complex task environment, long working distance, and random drift of the gyro, the positioning error gradually diverges with time in the design of a strapdown inertial navigation system (SINS)/Doppler velocity log (DVL) integrated positioning system. The use of velocity information in the DVL system cannot completely suppress the divergence of the SINS navigation error, which will result in low positioning accuracy and instability. To address this problem, this paper proposes a SINS/DVL integrated positioning system based on a filtering gain compensation adaptive filtering technology that considers the source of error in SINS and the mechanism that influences the positioning results. In the integrated positioning system, an organic combination of a filtering gain compensation adaptive filter and a filtering gain compensation strong tracking filter is explored to fuse position information to obtain higher accuracy and a more stable positioning result. Firstly, the system selects the indirect filtering method and uses the integrated positioning error to model the navigation parameters of the system. Then, a filtering gain compensation adaptive filtering method is developed by using the filtering gain compensation algorithm based on the error statistics of the positioning parameters. The positioning parameters of the system are filtered and information on errors in the navigation parameters is obtained. Finally, integrated with the positioning parameter error information, the positioning parameters of the system are solved, and high-precision positioning results are obtained to accurately position autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). The simulation results show that the SINS/DVL integrated positioning method, based on the filtering gain compensation adaptive filtering technology, can effectively enhance the positioning accuracy. Full article

Navigation is a precondition for ocean space vehicles to work safely in polar regions. The traditional polar algorithms employ the grid strapdown inertial navigation system (SINS) as the backbone and Doppler velocity log (DVL) output velocity as measurements to constitute the integrated navigation system, of which, however, the position errors still accumulate with time. The ultra-short baseline (USBL) position system can provide position information that can be used to improve the performance of the SINS/DVL integrated system. Therefore, a grid SINS/DVL/USBL integrated algorithm for polar navigation is proposed in this paper. In order to extend the availability of the USBL and improve integration accuracy in polar regions, the USBL observation model is established based on the relative position measurement firstly. Then, a grid SINS/DVL/USBL integrated algorithm is proposed to fuse the information of these sensors with a modified Kalman filter (MKF) dealing with the sparse USBL output. Finally, a vector fault detection method, which takes the measurements as detection objects instead of the filter, is designed to locate the measurement fault and can be employed by the centralized filter to improve the fault-tolerant. Simulation and experiment results show that the proposed grid SINS/DVL/USBL integrated navigation system can further restrain SINS errors especially the position errors effectively. Meanwhile, the vector fault detection method can detect and isolate the fault measurements of centralized filter immediately and accurately. Therefore, the proposed fault-tolerant grid SINS/DVL/USBL integrated navigation algorithm can improve the reliability and accuracy of polar navigation for ocean space application. Full article