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RT2: real-time ray-tracing for underwater range evaluation

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Abstract

The paper deals with the distributed acoustic localization of teams of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and proposes a novel algorithm, real-time ray-tracing (RT2), for evaluating the distance between any pair of AUVs in the team. The technique, based on a modified formulation of the non-linear sound-ray propagation laws, allows efficient handling of the distorted and reflected acoustic ray paths. The proposed algorithm can be easily implemented on-board of low-cost AUVs, requiring the presence, on each vehicle, of an acoustic modem and a pair of look-up tables, a-priori built on the basis of the assumed knowledge of the depth-dependent sound velocity profile. On such a basis, every AUV can compute its distance w.r.t. to any other neighbor team member, through time-of-flight measurements and the exchanges of depth information only.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communication Computer and System Science, University of Genoa, Via Opera Pia 13, 16145, Genova, Italy

    Giuseppe Casalino, Alessio Turetta & Enrico Simetti

  2. Department of Electrical Systems and Automation, University of Pisa, Largo Lucio Lazzarino 1, 56122, Pisa, Italy

    Andrea Caiti

Authors
  1. Giuseppe Casalino
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  2. Andrea Caiti
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  3. Alessio Turetta
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  4. Enrico Simetti
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Enrico Simetti.

Additional information

This research was partially funded by EU FP7 project “CO3AUVs: Cognitive Cooperative Control of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles”, under Grant Agreement n. 23 1378.

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Casalino, G., Caiti, A., Turetta, A. et al. RT2: real-time ray-tracing for underwater range evaluation. Intel Serv Robotics 4, 259–270 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11370-011-0093-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11370-011-0093-8

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