Precision Navigation System for Near and On-Hull Positioning Underwater

The ability to precisely navigate on or near the hull of a ship enables numerous inspection, security, and hull husbandry tasks to be implemented reliably by unmanned systems. The proposed system utilizes a variety of standard UUV sensors along with novel deployable LBL transponders which are located on the hull in close proximity to detectable hull features. Utilizing the combination of motion estimation, feature detection, and Feature Based Localization, a UUV can precisely navigate a complex ship hull. The system proposed can be used in numerous applications where precise underwater positioning or precise sensor data registration is critical on known and unknown hulls, with varying degrees of fouling and hull coating conditions. The system is applicable to divers, free flying UUVs, and hull crawling UUVs.