Sensor Formation Optimization for Acoustic Positioning System

This work studies the steps to optimize the sensor placement for underwater acoustic positioning system when the ranges between the investigated points and sensors are measured only. It is assumed that the measurements of the ranges are corrupted with white Gaussian noise for the mathematical tractability. Firstly, the optimal geometric sensor formation that will yield the best positioning accuracy in 3D space is achieved by minimizing the values of geometric position dilution of precision(GDOP). Secondly, more computed positioning accuracy parameters, geometric positioning accuracy(GPA), horizontal positioning accuracy(HPA) and vertical positioning accuracy(VPA) are utilized to assess the optimal geometric sensor formation. Thirdly, determine whether increase the number of sensors into the underwater acoustic positioning system according to the compare between the computed positioning accuracy and the positioning accuracy that users require. Finally, simulative experiments are designed to show the steps to optimize the sensor placement for underwater acoustic positioning system.