System and method for navigation for unmanned undersea vehicles
AssigneeThe Government of the United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
InventorWilliam M. Sanders
Life of this patent
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Abstract
System and method for navigating an unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) using three-dimensional acoustic reflectivity data sets and a beam steered downward looking sonar capturing sub-bottom features and creating three-dimensional representations to compare with the reflectivity data sets to general navigation corrections. Acoustically senses and exploits sub-bottom features for navigation of UUVs that can provide more reliable navigation than using surface features alone, since much of the sea floor is flat (e.g. on continental shelves and abyssal plains).
Claims13
A method for navigating an unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) equipped with a beam steered downward looking sonar, the method comprising:
- receiving a plurality of three-dimensional acoustic reflectivity reference data sets, each of the plurality of reference data sets being associated with a reference location;
- receiving sonar data and other sensed data, the sonar data resulting from at least one sub-bottom feature;
- accumulating the sonar data to produce a three-dimensional representation of the at least one sub-bottom feature;
- locating a match between the three-dimensional representation and one of the plurality of reference data sets, the match having a match location;
- and
- combining the match location with the other sensed data to navigate the UUV.
An unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) for acoustically sensing and exploiting sub-bottom features for self-navigation comprising:
- a beam steered downward looking sonar collecting sonar data from at least one sub-bottom feature;
- sensors collecting sensed data;
- a data storage storing a plurality of three-dimensional acoustic reflectivity reference data sets, each of the plurality of reference data sets being associated with a reference location;
- a UUV data processor receiving the sonar data, the sensed data, and the plurality of three-dimensional acoustic reflectivity reference data sets and the reference locations, the UUV data processor accumulating the sonar data, the UUV data processor producing a three-dimensional representation of at least one of the sub-bottom features, the UUV data processor locating a match between the three-dimensional representation and one of the plurality of reference representations, the match having a match location, the UUV data processor preparing UUV navigation data based on the match location and the sensed data;
- a UUV controller navigating the UUV based on the UUV navigation data;
- and
- a power supply providing power to the UUV.
A computer program stored on a computer-readable medium for navigating an unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) comprising:
- a data set receiver computer program receiving a plurality of three-dimensional acoustic reflectivity reference data sets, each of the plurality of reference data sets being associated with a reference location;
- a UUV data receiver computer program receiving sonar data from at least one sub-bottom feature from a beam steered downward looking sonar, the UUV data receiver receiving other sensed data;
- a 3D representation processor computer program accumulating the sonar data to produce a three-dimensional representation of the at least one sub-bottom feature;
- a match processor computer program locating a match between the three-dimensional representation and one of the plurality of reference representations, the match having a match location;
- and
- a combination processor computer program combining the match location with the other sensed data to navigate the UUV.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.