Towards the improvement of autonomous glider navigational accuracy through the use of regional ocean models

Ryan N. Smith*, Jonathan Kelly, Yi Chao, Burton H. Jones, Gaurav S. Sukhatme

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

Autonomous underwater gliders are robust and widelyused ocean sampling platforms that are characterized by their endurance, and are one of the best approaches to gather subsurface data at the appropriate spatial resolution to advance our knowledge of the ocean environment. Gliders generally do not employ sophisticated sensors for underwater localization, but instead dead-reckon between set waypoints. Thus, these vehicles are subject to large positional errors between prescribed and actual surfacing locations. Here, we investigate the implementation of a large-scale, regional ocean model into the trajectory design for autonomous gliders to improve their navigational accuracy. We compute the dead-reckoning error for our Slocum gliders, and compare this to the average positional error recorded from multiple deployments conducted over the past year. We then compare trajectory plans computed on-board the vehicle during recent deployments to our prediction-based trajectory plans for 140 surfacing occurrences.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationASME 2010 29th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering, OMAE2010
Pages597-606
Number of pages10
DOIs
StatePublished - 2010
Externally publishedYes
EventASME 2010 29th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering, OMAE2010 - Shanghai, China
Duration: Jun 6 2010Jun 11 2010

Publication series

NameProceedings of the International Conference on Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering - OMAE
Volume4

Other

OtherASME 2010 29th International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering, OMAE2010
Country/TerritoryChina
CityShanghai
Period06/6/1006/11/10

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ocean Engineering
  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology
  • Mechanical Engineering

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