New methods for in-situ calibration of attitude and doppler sensors for underwater vehicle navigation: Preliminary results

This paper reports two new methods for the problem of in-situ calibration of the alignment rotation matrix between Doppler sonar velocity sensors and gyrocompass attitude sensors arising in the navigation of underwater vehicles. Previously reported solutions to this alignment calibration problem require the use of navigation fixes from an absolute external navigation fixes of the underwater vehicle, thus requiring additional navigation sensors and/or beacons to be located externally and apart from the underwater vehicle. We report a alignment calibration method employing only internal vehicle navigation sensors for velocity, acceleration, and attitude. Results from simulation data comparing these new methods to previously reported methods indicate satisfactory performance of the proposed methods in the presence of simulated sensor noise.