Simulation of the Circular Motion of an Autonomous Unmanned Underwater Vehicle and the Signals of the Sensors of the Inertial Navigation System

An integrated navigation complex for an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) has been developed to determine its current location coordinates and navigation parameters in various modes of movement, as well as to transmit and display these data in the visualization system on board the carrier vessel. Such a complex should provide not only the process of orientation, navigation, and control, but also the ability to monitor the functional technical condition of the AUV and its systems, and, if necessary, the remote control mode of the vehicle. We consider the inertial navigation system (INS) by «Inertial Labs» to determine the position, speed, and orientation of the vehicle based on data from the inertial measurement unit (IMU), which includes accelerometers and gyroscopes. The mathematical and computer modeling of the circular motion of the AUV was carried out, and the dependencies characterizing the change in the coordinates and projections of the AUV speed in the geographical coordinate system and the change in the heading angle were obtained. The obtained characteristics of the AUV motion were used to model the output signals of the gyroscopes and accelerometers of the IMU. Based on the mathematical description of the IMU signals, their computer modeling was carried out for the circular motion of the AUV, which makes it possible to reproduce the work of the INS for further research on navigation algorithms, data integration, improving the accuracy of positioning and navigation, the efficiency of transmission and visualization of the AUV motion data.