Range–only navigation – maximizing system observability by using extremum seeking∗

Mobile beacon vehicles can be used as navigational aid for autonomous underwater vehicles when performing navigation using single range measurements. Using mobile beacon removes constraints imposed on the underwater vehicle trajectory because mobile beacon executes trajectories that ensure persistent range measurements. In this paper extremum seeking based control of beacon vehicle which ensures good observability with small communication overhead is proposed. First cost function which gives measure of observability is derived. In addition, extremum seeking loop for steering mobile beacon is presented. Finally, simulation results of proposed algorithm are presented.