Sonars for precise underwater autonomous vehicle (AUV) navigation.

There is a great interest in underwater autonomous vehicles (AUVs) and currently many companies develop AUVs for multiple applications. Obviously, AUVs require accurate navigation. Underwater, radio waves cannot propagate, and therefore such navigation systems as GPS, widely available on the ground, cannot operate underwater. New navigation principles and new navigation systems are required to make AUVs useful in practice. Such systems should provide a high localisation accuracy and, at the same time, they should be of a small size and weight, require a low power consumption, provide a low delay in the position estimation, etc. This project aims to develop new underwater navigation systems satisfying these requirements. Underwater, acoustic waves play the same role as radio waves in terrestrial systems, but they possess specific properties, which do not allow a direct use of radio solutions. Acoustic systems exploited for the underwater navigation purpose are called sonars. In this project, new sonar principles and systems will be developed and tested in lake and sea experiments. This activity will be based on using underwater channel models developed in the Underwater Information Systems Group at York, and recent results on development and experimental investigation of underwater acoustic techniques and devices within this Group. The student should be well familiar with signal processing techniques and corresponding mathematics and Matlab programming. The techniques developed in the project will also be tested in the university water tank.

It is also possible to do this research as a MSc by Research project.

How to apply:

Applicants should apply via the University’s online application system . Please read the application guidance first so that you understand the various steps in the application process.

Funding:

This is a self-funded project and you will need to have sufficient funds in place (eg from scholarships, personal funds and/or other sources) to cover the tuition fees and living expenses for the duration of the research degree programme. Please check the School of Physics, Engineering and Technology website for details about funding opportunities at York.