Cooperative localization and navigation for multiple UUVs

Research on cooperative navigation and localization of multi-UUVs is an important topic to solve the navigation problem in Middle-Depth-Zone. An algorithm based on acoustic signal one-way- travel-time (Time-Of-Flight, TOF) for multi-UUVs was presented. In the Leader-Fellow structure, the master UUV is equipped with high precision navigation system, and the slaver UUV is equipped with low precision navigation system. They all are equipped with acoustic device to measure relative location. An Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) was designed, which fused the proprioceptive and exteroceptive sensors. The research results prove that the navigation accuracy has been improved effectively by using cooperative navigation and localization method.