Stable Cycles for Underwater Navigation

Navigating GNSS-denied environments presents significant challenges. This is one of the challenges faced by underwater robotics. Underwater localization solutions are still expensive and difficult to integrate into small robots. This paper proposes to take advantage of stable cycles to enable navigation without getting lost. The robot is following a timed automaton that guides it along a predefined trajectory. By tuning the timings of the automaton based on measurements, the cycle is moved and stabilized in the environment. Several of these cycles may exist in areas to be explored. The goal of this paper is to provide strategies to navigate between these cycles, either using dead-reckoning for short-range navigation or using an isobath bounce strategy to reach the capture basin of the next cycle and to be sure to stabilize the trajectory of the robot on the next cycle.