Analysis of terrain navigability in underwater terrain aided navigation

Abstract Aiming at the problem that the single terrain characteristic parameter cannot comprehensively evaluate the terrain navigability of the matching areas, the weighted vector correlation degree is introduced, and the terrain characteristic parameters such as the standard deviation of terrain elevation, roughness, correlation coefficient, terrain information entropy and terrain slope are comprehensively considered. A multi-index comprehensive decision-making evaluation method based on grey fuzzy theory is proposed. In addition, aiming at the problem that different matching routes have different navigability for the specific terrain, in order to select matching routes with better navigability, a navigation coefficient based on terrain statistical parameters is proposed to analyze the navigability of different routes. And the point mass filter (PMF) algorithm is used to simulate the navigability of the matching areas with different terrain features and matching routes. The simulation results show that the proposed evaluation method and navigation coefficient are feasible in the evaluation of terrain navigability. The stronger the navigability is, the smaller the matching error is and the better the navigation performance is. This research results can provide theoretical basis for analysis of terrain navigability, selection of matching areas and matching routes planning in terrain aided navigation.