Navigation and Probability Assessment for Successful AUV Docking Using USBL

This paper addresses the navigation of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) when approaching a docking station. The following array of underwater navigation sensors is considered available: ultra short baseline (USBL), Doppler velocity log (DVL) with bottom track, compass, and gyro. Based on this sensor array, we propose a modular and cascaded Kalman filter (KF) approach to estimate the vehicle's heading, azimuth and angle to the docking station, position, and velocity.