Patent ID: 8442709

Claim:
An underwater investigation system comprising: a host ship; an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) comprising a propulsion device and a steering device; at least one sonar system; and a guidance controller configured to initiate sonar range measurements between said host ship and said UUV using said at least one sonar system to emit sonar ranging pulses, for at least some of the sonar ranging pulses, estimate a respective UUV position state relative to said host ship at a time each sonar ranging pulse is emitted to define a series of successive UUV position state estimates, update UUV position state estimates in the series based upon reflections of the at least some sonar ranging pulses and completion of respective sonar range measurements, and propagate the updates to subsequent UUV position state estimates in the series, and control said propulsion device and said steering device to guide movement of said UUV relative to said host ship based upon the updated position state estimates.