SGER:An Iceberg-Relative Navigation System: Feasibility Demonstration

该项目将支持对在冰山和冰架下运行的自主水下航行器（AUV）的新导航能力进行初步的有限现场测试。 该系统将使AUV能够相对于移动的冰面而不是相对于海底和/或惯性参考系导航和定位自身。 预期的冰运动包括平移和旋转。为了实现这一目标，地图将被淹没的冰表面，和实时算法计算AUV的冰相对位置使用声纳探测这些表面将被开发和演示。 这种能力将增强所有现有的AUV冰下导航技术。该系统将生成地图，使科学小组能够选择和访问冰下地点（无论是使用AUV还是使用AUV），提供比以往任何时候都更广泛的水下冰面视角。 它还可以返回特定地点进行实验和连续观测，并包括保持台站以支持成像和取样任务的能力。 它还将提高AUV在这些危险环境中作业的安全性。实地测试将在已经获得资助的南极冰山研究巡航期间进行。

The project will support an initial, limited field-test of a new navigation capability for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) operating under icebergs and ice shelves. This system will enable an AUV to navigate and position itself with-respect-to a moving ice surface, rather than with-respect-to the seafloor and/or an inertial reference frame. Expected ice motion includes both translation and rotation. To achieve this goal, maps will be generated of submerged ice surfaces, and real-time algorithms which compute the AUV's ice-relative position using sonar soundings of those surfaces will be developed and demonstrated. This capability will augment all existing AUV under-ice navigation techniques. The system will generate maps that allow a science team to select and visit under-ice sites (either with an AUV or an ROV) by providing a much broader perspective of the submerged ice surface than has ever been possible before. It will also be possible to return to specific sites for experimentation and serial observations, and includes the ability to hold station in support of imaging and sampling missions. It will also increase the safety of AUV operations in these hazardous environments. Field tests will be performed during an already funded cruise to study icebergs in the Antarctic.