Development of an extended Kalman filter algorithm for the localization of underwater mining vehicles

Abstract

This paper deals with the development of an extended Kalman filter(EKF) algorithm for the localization of underwater mining vehicles with sensor time delay. To develop the EKF algorithm, we use a kinematic model including the inner/outer track slips and the slip angle for the vehicle. For the experimental verification, a scale down tracked vehicle is run in air on a soil bin containing cohesive soil of Bentonite-water mixture. The measurements include the inner and outer wheel speeds from encoders, the heading angle from a compass sensor and a fiber optic rate gyro, and x and y coordinate position values from a vision system. The vision sensor replaces the LBL(Long Base Line) sonar system used in the real underwater positioning situations. Artificial noise signals mimicking the real LBL noise signal are added to the vision sensor information. Also, to simulate the LBL sensor time delay, the vision output data are delayed. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the EKF algorithm in rejecting the sensor measurements noise and sensor time delay effect. Copyright ？ 2005 by The International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers.