Synchronous spatial array processing for underwater vehicle tracking

Navigation of Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) is commonly assisted in confined areas by acoustic positioning systems. The Department of Ocean Engineenng at Florida Atlantic University is developing an altemative system based on submerged modems. This thesis describes an optimal target location estimation technique using a multi-channel spatial receiver array (Millscross) used as a development tool combined with a synchronous modem and transponder network mounted on buoys and UUVs. The Millscross provides a reference to evaluate the performance of the navigation estimator. Spatial array principles are used to develop decoding and beamforming techniques to process modem messages, enabling the end user (the UUV) to estimate in real-time its own position and navigate in space. A simulation was used to compare actual results with theory and determine the processing and decoding algorithms. These algorithms were then applied to real data to estimate the target position (direction of arrival and geodetic coordinates).