Iceberg-relative navigation for autonomous underwater vehicles
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- The work in this thesis enables iceberg-relative navigation for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) by extending seafloor mapping and terrain-relative navigation techniques to account for iceberg motion. The primary technical contributions of the thesis are two new algorithms which each account for the non-inertial motion of free-drifting icebergs: one for creating a self-consistent three-dimensional map of an iceberg's submerged surface using collected multibeam sonar data, and another which uses such a map for real-time iceberg-relative vehicle localization. The result is a two-phased approach to iceberg-relative navigation consisting of a mapping phase and a localization phase. In the mapping phase, a vehicle circumnavigates an iceberg, collecting multibeam sonar ranges to the iceberg's submerged surface, and measuring its speed with respect to the surface using a Doppler sonar. A batch post-processing calculation is then performed which estimates iceberg motion during data collection, enabling recovery of the vehicle's iceberg-relative trajectory. Finally, the recorded multibeam ranges are projected from the iceberg-relative trajectory to form a self-consistent map of the iceberg. In the localization phase, the vehicle returns to the iceberg with the map in memory. By correlating incoming sonar range measurements with the map, a localization estimator running onboard the vehicle provides real-time iceberg-relative vehicle localization estimates. The estimator works by estimating explicitly both the iceberg-relative pose of the vehicle and also the slowly-changing translation and rotation rates of the iceberg itself. This thesis provides two demonstrations using field data. The first is a proof of concept demonstration using ship-based sonar data collected around an Antarctic iceberg. This demonstration shows both successful mapping of a moving iceberg, and successful vehicle localization within that map. The second demonstration uses a submerged AUV operating over a section of seafloor used as a surrogate iceberg. This demonstration uses instruments and data fully representative of what will be available from a submerged AUV operating around an iceberg. It shows the successful estimation of the seafloor's (stationary) trajectory and the creation of a self-consistent map of the seafloor ``iceberg.'' The thesis concludes by highlighting areas of future work including applications to other vehicles operating around other non-inertial environments such as icebergs, ships, asteroids, comets, and space debris.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2011 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Kimball, Peter Wilson |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics |
| Primary advisor | Rock, Stephen M |
| Thesis advisor | Rock, Stephen M |
| Thesis advisor | Close, Sigrid, 1971- |
| Thesis advisor | Gerdes, J. Christian |
| Advisor | Close, Sigrid, 1971- |
| Advisor | Gerdes, J. Christian |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Peter Kimball. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. |
| Thesis | Ph.D. Stanford University 2011 |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2011 by Peter Wilson Kimball
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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