METHOD FOR NAVIGATION AND INFORMATION SUPPORT OF AN AUTONOMOUS UNMANNED UNDERWATER VEHICLE THAT MONITORS AN UNDERWATER PRODUCTION COMPLEX Russian patent published in 2021 - IPC G01S3/808 G01S15/06 B63G8/00 

FIELD: underwater navigation.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to means of underwater navigation and communication and can be used to determine the location and control of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) performing continuous (periodic) monitoring of the technical condition of underwater infrastructure facilities, for example, subsea production complexes (SPC) with a large number of heterogeneous inspected objects, located on a large area, including when performing missions under the ice. In the method for navigation and information support of an autonomous unmanned underwater vehicle, in which a network of reference beacons with known coordinates, equipped with high-frequency short-range and low-frequency long-range hydroacoustic transmitting and receiving means of information exchange with the AUV, is placed in the work area, and the beacons are connected with communication lines with remote control point. AUV is equipped with an on-board number system, low-frequency (LF) hydroacoustic reception devices and high-frequency (HF) hydroacoustic reception and transmission devices for information exchange with reference beacons. Reference beacons with equipment for LF and HF hydroacoustic communications are installed at each inspected MPC facility and synchronized with the AUV with a universal time system. Operating frequency of the LF equipment is selected from the condition of providing a range equal to the size of the MPC area, and the operating frequency of the HF equipment is selected from the condition of providing a data transmission rate sufficient for transmitting a video frame in real time. The proposed effect is achieved due to AUV equipped with software for measuring the propagation time of navigation signals in the LF and HF bands from the set beacons and software for calculating the value of the effective speed of these signals, minimizing the error in calculating the current coordinates according to the generated rangefinder data in the low frequency range, and providing the refinement of these current coordinates when the AUV is in the high frequency range, by filtering them according to the rangefinder data of the high frequency range.

EFFECT: minimizing the error in calculating the current coordinates according to the generated rangefinder data in the low frequency range, providing the refinement of current coordinates when the AUV is in the high frequency range.

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