Use of acoustic navigation signals for simultaneous localization and sound-speed estimation

The possibility of exploiting low-resolution acoustic signals used for the navigation of Lagrangian floats to simultaneously estimate the speed of sound is studied. Acoustic navigation of Lagrangian floats is regularly carried out by measuring travel times from three fixed stations assuming a known value for the speed of sound. The sound speed is considered here as a variable of the problem to be estimated from the travel-time data simultaneously with the horizontal location of the float. The estimation problem is linearized and solved analytically, and closed-form expressions for the sound-speed estimation errors are derived. Typical acoustic navigation (RAFOS) signals are characterized by limited time resolution (0.2 s) challenging the accuracy of sound-speed estimation, depending on the location of the float with respect to the fixed stations. By exploiting travel-time data from multiple floats, the sound-speed estimation accuracy can be increased, which reflects in higher localization accuracy as well. In the case of a single float improved sound-speed estimates and localization results can be obtained by combining travel-time data from different float locations. Numerical results verify the theoretical error estimates and demonstrate the efficiency of the method.