Acoustic tracking and homing with a long-range AUV

This paper presents the development effort toward demonstrating acoustic tracking and homing with a long-range AUV (LRAUV) at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). The acoustic tracking system uses a directional acoustic transponder (DAT) from Teledyne Benthos, backed by an acoustic baffle made from syntactic acoustic damping material (SADM). We discuss sensor integration into the LRAUV system, procedures and results from an in-house calibration, and field tests with both anchored and towed transponders.