Experimental research of distance estimation accuracy using underwater acoustic modems to provide navigation of underwater objects

The paper is devoted to the analysis of the accuracy of measuring the distance between underwater vehicles using underwater acoustic modems in natural conditions and aimed to increasing the performance of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) onboard navigation systems. The results of the experimental research conducted as sea under-ice trials are presented. The positions of the underwater acoustic transducers placement were determined using high-precision satellite positioning system receiver. Under the experiments, the series of measurements of acoustic signal propagation time between positioning points located on the different distances from each other were conducted. For the measured navigation signals propagation times the graphs of the measurements occurrence frequency distribution corresponding to the different distances between the modems were plotted. The analysis of these dependencies allows estimating the magnitude of error in the measured data and the pattern of its distribution, which tends to normal.