Undersea node localization using node-to-node acoustic ranges in a distributed Seaweb network

Abstract

Seaweb is a wide-area network interconnecting a set of distributed underwater nodes through the use of a DSP-based acoustic communications modem at each node and through-water digital acoustic links between neighboring nodes. As a by-product of Seaweb communications, the distances between neighboring nodes are obtained from the roundtrip acoustic travel-time measurements. If the network is deployed in an ad hoc distribution, or if an established network is disturbed, the locations of the nodes are unknown to the operator. This thesis uses the node-to-node ranges, which have been compiled at the designated master node, as input to an algorithm for estimating the relative locations of all nodes. Synthetic network geometries serve to evaluate the algorithm with perfect ranges and with imperfect ranges and/or incomplete data. Seaweb networks deployed at sea are the final test of the algorithm.