Localization of autonomous underwater vehicles by sonar image processing

A major percentage of underwater operations takes place in structured environments. This article presents a low cost way for underwater vehicle positioning in places like pools, tanks, water towers etc. The developed application calculates a 2D position using only a simple scanning sonar and a digital compass. A user interface has also been designed for this purpose. Various modes of sonar scanning were tested in a circular pool and the analysis of the results is presented here.