A High Precision Method of AUV Localization Based on Beamforming

Due to the significant attenuation of high-frequency signals and the complex underwater environment, the navigation and localization of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) in the underwater environment are particularly challenging. In this paper, the three-dimensional geometric model of a cross array is present to obtain accurately the localization of AUV based on beamforming. It is seen from simulations that the minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR) and the multiple signal classification (MUSIC) outperform the conventional beamformer (CBF) under low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). But MUSIC is sensitive to the mismatches of the array manifold, the performance would be greatly reduced in practical. Then MVDR is selected to estimate the azimuth angle. With the accurate azimuth angle, the slant distance between the AUV and the array can be obtained accurately. For certain slant distances, its localization error can be less than 10% when the depth difference between the AUV and the array is known.