Robust Autonomous Vehicle Navigation by Jay E. Dryer B.S., Systems Engineering U. S. Naval Academy, 1993 Submitted to the Department of Ocean Engineering in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Ocean Engineering at the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY May 2002 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2002. All rights reserved. /l A u th or ....................... ............ Department of Ocean Engineering May 29, 2002 Certified by.............. John J. Leonard Associate Professor of Ocean Engineering hsSupervisor A ccepted by ............. ............ Pofe@s Henrik Schmidt Profe of Ocean Engineering Chairman, Departmental Committee on Graduate Students MASSACHUSTSNSTITUiTE OF TECHNOLOGY AUG 2 12002 LIBRARIES .".. .11 @M MM"Ol!"O A16,11 I - Room 14-0551 77 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139 Ph: 617.253.2800 MITLibraries Email:
[email protected] Document Services http://Iibraries.mit.edu/docs DISCLAIMER OF QUALITY Due to the condition of the original material, there are unavoidable flaws in this reproduction. We have made every effort possible to provide you with the best copy available. If you are dissatisfied with this product and find it unusable, please contact Document Services as soon as possible. Thank you. Due to the quality of the original material there is some bleed through. 2 Robust Autonomous Vehicle Navigation by Jay E. Dryer Submitted to the Department of Ocean Engineering on May 29, 2002, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Ocean Engineering Abstract Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) performance is highly dependent on the quality and interpretation of navigation data available to the vehicle. It is common practice to combine multiple input sources such as compass or gyro information with sensor information that is external to the vehicle, such as long baseline transponder travel times and GPS information, to derive the best estimate of the vehicle's position.