Development of a Lightweight Inertial Gravimeter for Use on Board an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle: Measurement Principle, System Design and Sea Trial Mission

Type Article
Date 2022-06
Language English
Author(s) Verdun JérômeORCID1, Roussel Clement1, Cali JoséORCID1, Maia Marcia2, D’eu Jean-François3, Kharbou Ossama1, Poitou Charles2, Ammann Jérôme2, Durand Frédéric1, Bouhier Marie-Edith4
Affiliation(s) 1 : Laboratoire Géomatique et Foncier (GeF) EA 4630, Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (Cnam), HESAM Université, École Supérieure d’Ingénieurs Géomètres Topographes (ESGT), 1 Boulevard Pythagore, 72000 Le Mans, France
2 : Laboratoire Géosciences Océan (LGO)—UMR6538, Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer, IUEM—Technopôle Brest Iroise, rue Dumont D’Urville, 29280 Plouzané, France
3 : Mappem Geophysics, Bâtiment Tech-Iroise, 1 rue des Ateliers, Zone de Mespaol, 29290 Saint-Renan, France
4 : Service Positionnement, Robotique, Acoustique et Optique (PDG-DFO-SM-PRAO), IFREMER Centre Méditerranée, Zone Portuaire de Brégaillon, CEDEX CS20 330, 83507 La Seyne-sur-Mer, France
Source Remote Sensing (2072-4292) (MDPI AG), 2022-06 , Vol. 14 , N. 11 , P. 2513 (44p.)
DOI 10.3390/rs14112513
WOS© Times Cited 3
Note This article belongs to the Section Engineering Remote Sensing
Keyword(s) deep-sea exploration, mobile gravimetry, vector strapdown gravity sensor, underwater gravity anomalies, autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), Kalman filtering
Abstract

he purpose of this paper is to present the design, development and testing of an innovative instrument called GraviMob, which allows performing dynamic measurements of underwater gravity anomalies. After recalling the interest in underwater gravimetry, we describe the system, the core of which consists of triads of accelerometers rigidly attached to an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). The article also presents the mathematical methods for estimating the east, north and vertical components of the local gravity vector. An unscented Kalman filter, integrating AUV position and orientation data, performs estimation of gravity in a frame adapted to its interpretation. To assess its performance, GraviMob was tested in the Mediterranean Sea during the year 2016. A comparison of the surface gravimetric signal previously acquired by the French Navy indicates that the maximum discrepancy between the vertical gravity component and its reference is below 4 mGal. Components of the vertical deflection calculated from GraviMob’s measurements were compared with those calculated from recent gravity field models. While a remarkable agreement was found on the north component, there remains a discrepancy (7 arcsec) on the east component which can be largely reduced by refining the estimation of the orientation of GraviMob’s sensitive axes in the AUV.

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Verdun Jérôme, Roussel Clement, Cali José, Maia Marcia, D’eu Jean-François, Kharbou Ossama, Poitou Charles, Ammann Jérôme, Durand Frédéric, Bouhier Marie-Edith (2022). Development of a Lightweight Inertial Gravimeter for Use on Board an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle: Measurement Principle, System Design and Sea Trial Mission. Remote Sensing, 14(11), 2513 (44p.). Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14112513 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00773/88521/