An algebraic perspective to single-transponder underwater navigation

This paper studies the position estimation of an underwater vehicle using a single acoustic transponder. The chosen estimation approach is based on nonlinear differential algebraic methods which allow to express very simply conditions for observability. These are then used in combination with an integrator-based time-derivative estimation technique to design an algebraic estimator, which, contrary to asymptotic observers, does not require sometimes tedious convergence verification. Simple simulation results are presented to illustrate the approach.