Development of a Power System and Analysis of Inertial System Calibration for a Small Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

Compared to large vehicles acting individually, platoons of small, inexpensive autonomous underwater vehicles have the potential to perform some missions that are commonly conducted by larger vehicles faster, more efficiently, and at a reduced operational cost. This thesis describes the power system of a small, inexpensive autonomous underwater vehicle developed by the Autonomous Systems Controls Laboratory at Virginia Tech.

Reduction in vehicle size and cost reduces the accuracy of navigational sensors, leading to the need for autonomous calibration. Several models of navigational sensors are discussed, and the extended Kalman filter is used to form an observer for each, which are simulated and analyzed.