Performance of an AUV Navigation System at Arctic Latitudes

In October 2001, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) operated an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) in the Arctic at latitudes exceeding 80/spl deg/. The navigation instruments consisted of a ring-laser gyro inertial navigation system (INS) coupled with a DVL and GPS, a separate fiber-optic-based gyro-compass, and a traditional flux-gate AHRS system. The instruments were tested on deck, in open water, and under ice. This paper describes the performance of these instruments at high latitudes.