Underwater Tightly Coupled State Estimation Method Using IMU and Artificial Lateral Line Systems
Yu Ling, Teng Ma, Ye Li, Ennong Tian, Xiangren Sun, Shuo Xu, Chi Qi
Abstract
The lateral line plays a crucial role as a sensory organ in fish for detecting and interpreting flow field environments. Taking inspiration from the lateral line of fish, this study investigates the implementation of an artificial lateral line system on a biomimetic fish-shaped Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV). To ensure accurate positioning of the UUV while considering physical dimensions, cost, and environmental friendliness (by avoiding the use of sonar), we propose a fusion method based on factor graph optimization that combines data from an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and the artificial lateral line system (ALLS). This method integrates velocity information obtained from the artificial lateral lines with attitude information provided by the IMU, enabling the UUV to achieve precise self-positioning at a relatively low cost. Water tank experiments demonstrate the significant improvement in the UUV’s trajectory estimation ability achieved by our proposed method.