• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.69-76
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• 2011

A test miner named MineRo was constructed for the purpose of shallow water test of mining performance. In June of 2009, the performance test was conducted in depth of 100 m, 5 km away from Hupo-port (Korean East Sea), to assess if the developed system is able to collect and lift manganese nodules from seafloor. In August of 2010, in-situ test of automatic path tracking control of MineRo was performed in depth of 120 m at the same site. For path tracking control, a localization algorithm determining MineRo's position on seabed is prerequisite. This study proposes an improved underwater navigation algorithm through estimation of MineRo's kinematic parameters. In general, the kinematic parameters such as track slips and slip angle are indirectly calculated using the position data from USBL (Ultra-Short Base Line) system and heading data from gyro sensors. However, the obtained data values are likely to be different from the real values, primarily due to the random noise of position data. The aim of this study is to enhance the reliability of the algorithm by measuring kinematic parameters, track slips and slip angle.