Low Cost Navigation for Unmanned Underwater Vehicles Using Line of Soundings

This paper focuses on localization and navigation as a critical skill for mobile robotics in general and underwater vehicles in particular. The main objective is to explore the possibility of the incorporation of historical navigation techniques into Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) localization and navigation algorithms, using low cost sensors and good quality bathymetry. The Line of Soundings (LOS) localization approach, used extensively by mariners in the past, includes several sources of errors. This paper explores these errors and their effects on localization precision in specific application areas. Selected preliminary results from field trials with ROV LATIS in Cork Harbour and Bantry Bay are presented in this paper.