Showing papers on "Mobile robot navigation published in 1976"

A Totally Integrated Navigation System

Abstract: Increasing operating cost of marine geophysical surveys, coupled with expansion of surveys into deeper water and further from shore have placed new demands for reliability in navigation Although numerous navigational systems are capable of supplying good data in specific operating environments around the world, most become marginal in the more remote deeper water areas Such limitations have been countered through use of hybrid navigational configurations which often are little more than a lashing together of backup systems A shortcoming in these hybrid systems is that various components may be based upon different geodetic earth models, with the consequent introduction of ambiguities and uncertainties into both real-time navigation and postplot solutions To resolve such ambiguities and to provide world-wide operation for all typically encountered conditions, a system was developed that provides optimal real-time position information based upon the navigation satellite datum The system is configured around a software program that optimally combines digitized data from whichever sensor units are active Included among the sensor types are all radio navigation aids, a doppler sonar, a satellite receiver, and an inertial platform The integrated character of the system allows continual automatic adjustment to optimal solutions during activation or de-activation of individual sensors Furthermore, the system is mechanized to provide continuous steerage information, thus eliminating the need for preplots which are required for most radio navigation aids The software allows stand-alone operation of each component system in addition to the optimum blending of all available data Thus, digitally recorded output from the various systems can be evaluated separately during postplot analysis