Embedded Spherical Localization for Micro Underwater Vehicles Based on Attenuation of Electro-Magnetic Carrier Signals

Self-localization is one of the most challenging problems for deploying micro autonomous underwater vehicles ([Formula: see text] AUV) in confined underwater environments. This paper extends a recently-developed self-localization method that is based on the attenuation of electro-magnetic waves, to the [Formula: see text] AUV domain. We demonstrate a compact, low-cost architecture that is able to perform all signal processing steps present in the original method. The system is passive with one-way signal transmission and scales to possibly large [Formula: see text] AUV fleets. It is based on the spherical localization concept. We present results from static and dynamic position estimation experiments and discuss the tradeoffs of the system.