Compact, Light Weight, Low Cost, Precision, Non-inertial Underwater Navigation Sensor

Doppler velocity logs (DVLs) are an essential component of any integrated autonomous underwater navigation system but the size, weight and cost is not compatible with the small AUVs foreseen for riverine and coastal surveys. The research objective is to develop a small wideband DVL (WB-DVL) which offers a step change in functionality and performance over current acoustic navigation systems and which has a size and weight suited for small AUV applications. This transformation will be obtained by leveraging Marport"s Software Defined Sonar (SDS) technology platform combined with the use of novel space-time signal processing techniques to reduce single ping standard deviation of speed over bottom to 0.4 mm/s. For Phase I of this award, Marport has described a comprehensive study to validate these techniques and additional features that allow simultaneous estimation of speed over bottom and height over bottom as well as speed over water by software modifications only.