LTMUUV: A Low-Cost Unmanned Underwater Vehicle for Underwater Terrain and Magnetic Field Mapping

This paper presents the LTMUUV, a low-cost unmanned underwater vehicle capable of mapping underwater terrain and magnetic field intensity. The LTMUUV design including its structure, sensor systems, power systems, communication systems, hardware systems, and software were discussed in detail, alongside hydrodynamic analysis using ANSYS FLUENT. The field testing was conducted at Lake Valley in Cheras, Malaysia, to validate sensor performance, including IMU, GNSS, sonar and magnetometer data acquisition. The results demonstrate the LTMUUV’s capability in maneuverability, sensor data acquisition, and trajectory estimation and localization via an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF), while maintaining the overall cost less than $2000 by using non-navigation grade sensors.