Autonomous underwater vehicle platforms currently lack a robust sonar system for forward-looking obstacle avoidance, detection, and navigation. Existing sonar systems (even forward looking systems) generally do not provide depth information ahead of the vessel in a navigationally effective manner. Additionally, these sonar systems generally do not provide navigation commands/suggestions to control systems for use in avoiding obstacles ahead of the vessel autonomously. FarSounder's technology is capable of providing 3D depth information ahead of a vessel for a large field of view with a fast update rate. Currently, this technology is being commercialized as a human user interactive forward-looking navigation tool for surface ships. FarSounder believes that is technology can be effectively adapted to become an innovative AUV navigation aid providing autonomous decision making aimed at enabling the AUV to effectively detect, classify, localize, and navigate. The objective of our effort is to develop a 3D forward-looking, collision avoidance sonar for undersea guidance and control in shallow water. Results from FarSounder's 3D forward-looking surface ship sonar will be presented along with FarSounder's proposed "black box" solution for AUV navigation and control.
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