The research presented in this paper is aimed at developing a control algorithm for an autonomous surface system carrying a two-sensor array consisting of two acoustic receivers, capable of measuring the time-difference-of-arrival (TDOA) of a quasiperiodic underwater acoustic signal and utilizing this value to steer the system toward the acoustic source in the horizontal plane. Stability properties of the proposed algorithm are analyzed using the Lie bracket approximation technique. Furthermore, simulation results are presented, where particular attention is given to the relationship between the time difference of arrival measurement noise and the sensor baseline - the distance between the two acoustic receivers. Also, the influence of a constant disturbance caused by sea currents is considered. Finally, experimental results in which the algorithm was deployed on two autonomous surface vehicles, each equipped with a single acoustic receiver, are presented. The algorithm successfully steers the vehicle formation toward the acoustic source, despite the measurement noise and intermittent measurements, thus showing the feasibility of the proposed algorithm in real-life conditions.

翻译：本文旨在开发一种控制算法，用于搭载由两个声波接收器组成的双传感器阵列的自主水面系统。该系统能够测量准周期水下声信号的到达时间差（TDOA），并利用该值在水平面内引导系统朝向声源运动。利用李括号近似技术分析了所提算法的稳定性性质。此外，给出了仿真结果，其中特别关注到达时间差测量噪声与传感器基线（两个声波接收器之间的距离）之间的关系。同时，考虑了由海流引起的恒定扰动的影响。最后，展示了将算法部署在两艘各配备单个声波接收器的自主水面车辆上的实验结果。尽管存在测量噪声和间歇性测量，该算法仍成功引导车辆编队朝向声源运动，从而证明了所提算法在实际条件下的可行性。