IEEE/ION Position, Location and Navigation Symposium (PLANS), 2020
Current navigation sensors largely rely on electromagnetic signals to obtain position, velocity, ... more Current navigation sensors largely rely on electromagnetic signals to obtain position, velocity, and time (PVT) information. However, it can be observed that mammals like bats use acoustic waves, mostly ultrasound, for echolocation and relative navigation/collision avoidance purposes. Acoustic waves are also used by cetaceans like dolphins and sperm whales for echolocation. This paper investigates the performance of a novel acoustic positioning and navigation system (APNS) inspired by nature. Acoustic sensors have relatively lower cost, size, weight, and power (C-SWAP) and are easy to deploy. Additionally, being based on acoustic signals, this technique is immune to signal-in-space electromagnetic interferences. The attenuation of sound in air is discussed along with potential ranging errors and signal delays. A multistatic arrangement of sensors is discussed in detail, with an optimized arrangement of transmitters in a given test geometry. The transmitters broadcast their respective signals following a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) scheme. The receiver position is calculated based on ranging measurements from a minimum of three transmitters. The range is calculated based on the Time of Arrival (TOA) of acoustic waves from the transmitter to the receiver. The transmitters are arranged optimally to minimize Position Dilution of Precision (PDOP) as well as maximizing sensor availability. The error in positioning due to platform dynamics is also discussed. This analysis lead to an optimized arrangement of transmitters, thus supporting subsequent experimental activities.
This paper presents the state-of-the-art and reviews the state-of-research of acoustic sensors us... more This paper presents the state-of-the-art and reviews the state-of-research of acoustic sensors used for a variety of navigation and guidance applications on air and surface vehicles. In particular, this paper focuses on echolocation, which is widely utilized in nature by certain mammals (e.g., cetaceans and bats). Although acoustic sensors have been extensively adopted in various engineering applications, their use in navigation and guidance systems is yet to be fully exploited. This technology has clear potential for applications in air and surface navigation/guidance for intelligent transport systems (ITS), especially considering air and surface operations indoors and in other environments where satellite positioning is not available. Propagation of sound in the atmosphere is discussed in detail, with all potential attenuation sources taken into account. The errors introduced in echolocation measurements due to Doppler, multipath and atmospheric effects are discussed, and an uncertainty analysis method is presented for ranging error budget prediction in acoustic navigation applications. Considering the design challenges associated with monostatic and multi-static sensor implementations and looking at the performance predictions for different possible configurations, acoustic sensors show clear promises in navigation, proximity sensing, as well as obstacle detection and tracking. The integration of acoustic sensors in multi-sensor navigation systems is also considered towards the end of the paper and a low Size, Weight and Power, and Cost (SWaP-C) sensor integration architecture is presented for possible introduction in air and surface navigation systems.
IEEE/ION Position, Location and Navigation Symposium (PLANS), 2020
Current navigation sensors largely rely on electromagnetic signals to obtain position, velocity, ... more Current navigation sensors largely rely on electromagnetic signals to obtain position, velocity, and time (PVT) information. However, it can be observed that mammals like bats use acoustic waves, mostly ultrasound, for echolocation and relative navigation/collision avoidance purposes. Acoustic waves are also used by cetaceans like dolphins and sperm whales for echolocation. This paper investigates the performance of a novel acoustic positioning and navigation system (APNS) inspired by nature. Acoustic sensors have relatively lower cost, size, weight, and power (C-SWAP) and are easy to deploy. Additionally, being based on acoustic signals, this technique is immune to signal-in-space electromagnetic interferences. The attenuation of sound in air is discussed along with potential ranging errors and signal delays. A multistatic arrangement of sensors is discussed in detail, with an optimized arrangement of transmitters in a given test geometry. The transmitters broadcast their respective signals following a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) scheme. The receiver position is calculated based on ranging measurements from a minimum of three transmitters. The range is calculated based on the Time of Arrival (TOA) of acoustic waves from the transmitter to the receiver. The transmitters are arranged optimally to minimize Position Dilution of Precision (PDOP) as well as maximizing sensor availability. The error in positioning due to platform dynamics is also discussed. This analysis lead to an optimized arrangement of transmitters, thus supporting subsequent experimental activities.
This paper presents the state-of-the-art and reviews the state-of-research of acoustic sensors us... more This paper presents the state-of-the-art and reviews the state-of-research of acoustic sensors used for a variety of navigation and guidance applications on air and surface vehicles. In particular, this paper focuses on echolocation, which is widely utilized in nature by certain mammals (e.g., cetaceans and bats). Although acoustic sensors have been extensively adopted in various engineering applications, their use in navigation and guidance systems is yet to be fully exploited. This technology has clear potential for applications in air and surface navigation/guidance for intelligent transport systems (ITS), especially considering air and surface operations indoors and in other environments where satellite positioning is not available. Propagation of sound in the atmosphere is discussed in detail, with all potential attenuation sources taken into account. The errors introduced in echolocation measurements due to Doppler, multipath and atmospheric effects are discussed, and an uncertainty analysis method is presented for ranging error budget prediction in acoustic navigation applications. Considering the design challenges associated with monostatic and multi-static sensor implementations and looking at the performance predictions for different possible configurations, acoustic sensors show clear promises in navigation, proximity sensing, as well as obstacle detection and tracking. The integration of acoustic sensors in multi-sensor navigation systems is also considered towards the end of the paper and a low Size, Weight and Power, and Cost (SWaP-C) sensor integration architecture is presented for possible introduction in air and surface navigation systems.
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Papers by Rohan Kapoor