T3 HANDS-ON: Underwater Localization Challenge
After a successful challenge in 2022, we are proud to present the underwater localization challenge 2023 which will again be held as part of the Breaking the Surface workshop!
Underwater localization is vitally important for underwater exploration and data gathering. However, since radio waves are severely attenuated by sea water, we have to operate in a GPS denied environment. In contrast, underwater sound travels with much lower attenuation and so we rely on acoustic systems to enable us to measure position. Whilst the slow speed of sound underwater is an advantage and enables us to measure propagation delays/distance very accurately, we must also overcome challenges posed by severe, time varying multipath effects (reverberation) and noise from many natural and man-made sources. This is an opportunity for teams to gain valuable, hands-on experience in how underwater acoustic systems work, collecting acoustic range data to estimate the location of a subsea device.
This year, participants in the localization challenge will be asked to locate a submerged miniature transponder using 2-way acoustic ranging. The groups will be given an acoustic modem to interrogate the transponder, a GPS receiver and access to a fast vessel to operate their localization methodology. The teams will analyse the collected range data on the boat and/or offline to estimate the position, presenting their results/method on the final day of the workshop. The teams will compete on three aspects (1) a race to locate the transponder most quickly (2) the most accurate final position after post processing (3) the most innovative localization strategy. Experts will accompany the participating groups, during their preparation, data collection and analysis, and hydrophones will be used to provide real-time visualisation of the acoustic traffic in the water.
If you are interested in participating in the BTS underwater localization challenge send an e-mail to bts@fer.hr with your team suggestions and stay tuned for the prize announcements!