Research on the design and implementation of ultra-short baseline positioning algorithm based on a five-element array

The ultra-short baseline (USBL) acoustic positioning systems, characterized by their compactness and ease of installation, are extensively employed to augment efficiency in marine engineering tasks. Nevertheless, the diminutive size of USBL systems inherently leads to escalated positioning inaccuracies as the operational range expands. Conventional positioning systems based on ternary and quaternary arrays are compromised by suboptimal positioning accuracy and inadequate robustness. While adopting more intricate array configurations, such as three-dimensional arrays, or an increased number of elements, such as octonary arrays, can enhance the system's accuracy and reliability, such measures inevitably raise the hardware requirements and computational demands. In response to the dichotomy between the need for precision and computational efficiency, this study introduces a novel five-element planar array USBL positioning approach. Executed on a low-power, fixed-point TI TMS320C6416T digital signal processor (DSP), this five-element array positioning algorithm adeptly mediates between the requisites for high positioning accuracy, manageable computational complexity, and affordability. Experimental outcomes from controlled pool tests affirm that the devised scheme attains a positioning accuracy of 0.6%, illustrating its efficacy and potential applicability in marine engineering endeavors.