Determining a position of a submersible vehicle within a body of water

• US 9,372,255 B2
• Filed: 03/30/2015
• Issued: 06/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Teledyne Instruments Incorporated (Teledyne Technologies Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Teledyne Instruments Incorporated (Teledyne Technologies Incorporated)
• Inventors: Melvin, Robert G. II, Green, Maurice D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ratcliffe, Luke
• Assistant Examiner(s): Baghdasaryan, Hovhannes
• Application Number:
  US14/673,132
• Publication Number:
  US 20150276916A1
• Time in Patent Office: 449 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B63G 8/00 Underwater vessels, e.g. submarines; Equipment specially adapted thereforsubmarine hulls B63B3/13; diving chambers with mechanical link, e.g. cable, to a base B63C11/34; divers' sleds B63C11/46; torpedoes F42B19/00
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 88/78 for use in or under water manholes, inspection openings, covers therefor B65D90/10
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/74 Systems using reradiation of acoustic waves, e.g. IFF, i.e. identification of friend or foe
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/876 Combination of several spaced transmitters or receivers of known location for determining the position of a transponder or a reflector G01S15/872 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 3/808 using transducers spaced apart and measuring phase or time difference between signals therefrom, i.e. path-difference systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 3/8083 determining direction of source
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0054 of actual mobile position, i.e. position calculation on base station
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/18 using ultrasonic, sonic, or infrasonic waves
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 1/3852 to the seabed

Abstract

Methods and apparatus determining a position of a submersible vehicle within a body of water are provided. A method comprises determining an initial position of the vehicle while the vehicle is at or near a water surface. The method further comprises coupling the vehicle and a base node to a weight and determining a position of the base node once the base node and vehicle have reached the floor of the body of water using acoustic modems of the vehicle and a surface vessel to aid in calculating the position as they descend, and acoustically transferring the at rest position on the seafloor from the vehicle to the node. The method further comprises decoupling the vehicle from the node and weight and determining a position of the vehicle based on the position of the base node and acoustic signals exchanged between acoustic modems of the vehicle and the base node.

Claims

1. A method of determining a position of a submersible vehicle within a body of water, comprising:

determining an initial position of a base node while the base node is at or near a surface of the body of water;

coupling the base node to a weight configured to descend the base node to a floor of the body of water;

updating, by the base node, a position of the base node during descent by exchanging acoustic signals between the first acoustic modem of the base node and the second acoustic modem of the surface vessel, comprising;

determining a range between the base node and the surface vessel using an acoustic signal from the surface vessel;

measuring data regarding at least one property of the body of water that affects the transmission of acoustic signals between the base node and the surface vessel using a sensor of the base node; and

updating, by the base node, the determined range based on the measured data regarding at least one property of the body of water that affects the transmission of the acoustic signals;

determining a position of the base node once the base node has reached the floor of the body of water, wherein determining a position of the base node comprises exchanging acoustic signals between a first acoustic modem of the base node and a second acoustic modem of a surface vessel; and

determining a position of the vehicle based on the position of the base node and acoustic signals exchanged between the first acoustic modem of the base node and a third acoustic modem of the vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein measuring data regarding at least one property of the body of water, comprises:

measuring temperature data, salinity data, or pressure data of the water, or combinations thereof.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the initial position of the base node comprises determining the initial position of the base node using a positioning circuit of the base node.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the initial position of the base node using a positioning circuit of the base node comprises determining the initial position of the base node using a global positioning system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a position of the vehicle comprises:

determining the position of the vehicle using an inertial navigation system; and

updating the position of the vehicle based on the position of the base node and the acoustic signals exchanged between the first acoustic modem of the base node and the third acoustic modem of the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of determining a position of the base node and determining a position of the vehicle comprises:

receiving an acoustic signal at a plurality of transducers of the base node;

determining a bearing and a range associated with the acoustic signal based on a difference in the phase and timing of the signal as it is received at each of the plurality of transducers; and

determining the respective position based on the bearing and the range.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein measuring data regarding one or more properties of the body of water using a sensor of the base node, comprises:

measuring data using a conductivity sensor, a temperature sensor, or a depth sensor, or combinations thereof.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein determining the position of the vehicle using an inertial navigation system comprises determining the position of the vehicle using at least one of a velocity sensor, an acceleration sensor, or a rotation sensor, or combinations thereof.

9. A method of determining a position of a submersible vehicle within a body of water, comprising:

determining an initial position of a base node while the base node is at or near a surface of the body of water;

coupling the base node to a weight configured to descend the base node to a floor of the body of water;

updating, by the base node, a position of the base node during descent by exchanging acoustic signals between the first acoustic modem of the base node and the second acoustic modem of the surface vessel, comprising;

determining a range between the base node and the surface vessel using an acoustic signal from the surface vessel;

measuring data regarding at least one property of the body of water that affects the transmission of acoustic signals between the base node and the surface vessel using a sensor of the base node; and

updating, by the base node, the determined range based on the measured data regarding at least one property of the body of water that affects the transmission of the acoustic signals;

determining a position of the base node once the base node has reached the floor of the body of water, wherein determining a position of the base node comprises exchanging acoustic signals between a first acoustic modem of the base node and a second acoustic modem of a surface vessel;

exchanging signals between the first acoustic modem of the base node and a third acoustic modem of the vehicle;

determining, by the base node, a position of the vehicle based on the position of the base node and the acoustic signals exchanged between the base node and the vehicle; and

receiving, by the vehicle, the position of the vehicle from the base node.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving the position of the vehicle from the base node comprises receiving, by the vehicle, at least one of a bearing, a range, a geoposition, or a time from the base node, or combinations thereof.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein exchanging signals between the base node and the vehicle comprises:

sending a request signal from the vehicle to the base node; and

receiving a response signal from the base node by the vehicle.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving the request signal by a base node multi-transceiver array; and

determining a bearing of the vehicle from the received request signal.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the multi-transceiver array comprises a plurality of hydrophones.

14. A method of determining a position of a submersible vehicle within a body of water, comprising:

determining an initial position of a base node while the base node is at or near a surface of the body of water;

coupling the base node to a weight configured to descend the base node to a floor of the body of water;

updating, by the base node, a position of the base node during descent by exchanging acoustic signals between the first acoustic modem of the base node and the second acoustic modem of the surface vessel, comprising;

determining a range between the base node and the surface vessel using an acoustic signal from the surface vessel;

measuring data regarding at least one property of the body of water that affects the transmission of acoustic signals between the base node and the surface vessel using a sensor of the base node; and

updating, by the base node, the determined range based on the measured data regarding at least one property of the body of water that affects the transmission of the acoustic signals;

determining a position of the base node once the base node has reached the floor of the body of water, wherein determining a position of the base node comprises exchanging acoustic signals between a first acoustic modem of the base node and a second acoustic modem of a surface vessel;

exchanging signals between the first acoustic modem of the base node and a third acoustic modem of the vehicle; and

determining, by the vehicle, a position of the vehicle based on the position of the base node and the acoustic signals exchanged between the base node and the vehicle.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein determining a position of the vehicle further comprises updating a position of the vehicle derived from an inertial navigation system.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein updating a position of the vehicle derived from an inertial navigation system comprises updating a position of the vehicle derived from at least one of a velocity sensor, an acceleration sensor, or a rotation sensor, or combinations thereof.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein determining a position of the vehicle based on the acoustic signals exchanged between the base node and the vehicle comprises:

determining a range of the vehicle based on a time lapse between a transmission of a first acoustic signal from the vehicle and a receipt of a second acoustic signal from the base node by the vehicle; and

receiving a vehicle bearing from the base node.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein determining a range further comprises compensating the time lapse for a Doppler effect.