Dead-Reckoning Configurations Analysis for Marine Turtle Context in a Controlled Environment

In the past few years, dead-reckoning (DR) has been frequently used to estimate the trajectory of marine animals at a fine temporal scale using bio-logger devices. The precision of the swim sequence trajectory estimation depends on various accumulated errors from external forces, sensors and computation. Trajectory accuracy is hard to estimate due to the difficulty of collecting precisely-known underwater positions. In this paper, we aim at estimating this accuracy at a fine temporal scale using a reference system for positioning. This work focuses on how each sensor frequency and algorithm used for the DR affect trajectory accuracy and the global power consumption of the bio-logger. We develop a dual GPS Real Time Kinematic (RTK) system offering us reference trajectories with 2 cm accuracy on position and 1.6 degrees on heading. The DR algorithms use 3-axis Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), depth and speed sensor data for orientation and speed determination. For the experimental tests, the GPS module and the bio-logger are attached to a swimmer doing breaststroke imitating turtle movement for different swim sequences between 15 and 40 minutes. Power consumption of the electronics is measured during laboratory tests. Results show that using an adapted speed sensor and correcting for marine current, even roughly, provide us with the best gain in accuracy. The use of the gyroscope or high-frequency sampling of sensors does not increase the accuracy of the trajectory reconstruction to a level that would be critical for slow moving marine animal applications.

Automated summary

In the estimation of trajectory for marine animals, the use of an adapted speed sensor and correcting for marine current have been shown to improve accuracy, even for slow-moving animals.