Long-Range Undersea Navigation
Abstract
The Long-Range Undersea Navigation program will provide continuous, GPS-level positioning accuracy to submarines and autonomous undersea vehicles (AUVs) in long-range ocean basins over extended periods of time. Undersea navigation cannot use GPS because the water blocks its signals. At shallower depths, masts can be raised to receive GPS signals, but masts present a detection risk. Typically, the alternative to GPS for undersea navigation has been inertial navigation systems (INS), but INS accuracy can degrade unacceptably over time. Building upon concepts explored under the Distributed Agile Submarine Hunting (DASH) program within Project NET-02 and the Upward Falling Payloads program, PE 0602702E, Project TT-03 the Long-Range Undersea Navigation program will distribute a small number of acoustic sources, analogous to GPS satellites, around the ocean basin. A submarine or AUV will be equipped with an acoustic receiver and appropriate software in order to obtain, maintain, and re-acquire, if lost, an initial location. By transmitting specific acoustic waveforms and developing accurate acoustic propagation models to predict and interpret the complex arrival structure of the acoustic sources, the submarine or AUV can determine its range from each source and thus triangulate its position. Technologies developed under this program will transition to the Navy.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Accomplishment
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2016
- Source ID
- 876bdcf63f6e6f14077c1cdd0b7cfa56