Observability analysis of single-beacon underwater localization of autonomous underwater vehicle

Aiming at the observability analysis of autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) underwater localization system based on the range measurements from a single beacon, an AUV three-dimensional kinematics model was developed. Three common measurements used on real platform, such as depth, heading and pitch, were considered as basic observation values, assisting range measurements for underwater localization. An observability analysis was performed on the system defined with different assist measurements, and then the influence of control inputs and trajectories on the observability property was also performed by nonlinear observability rank condition, which is based on the Lie derivatives. The results indicate that the most simplified measurements combination meeting the system observable is heading and range, and the systems, whose assist measurements containing the heading, are all observable, the change in control inputs and trajectories may make the change in observability property.