Case Study: Desert WAVE achieves 3rd place at RoboSub 2019 with Advanced Navigation's Subsonus USBL

Team Desert WAVE Takes 3rd Place at Robosub 2019 With Subsonus USBL

Desert WAVE, a team of female engineering students from Arizona State University and the Si Se Puede Foundation, needed accurate acoustic positioning for its autonomous underwater vehicle Phoenix during RoboSub 2019. The team faced the challenge of detecting a beacon and navigating to it in a shallow, enclosed test pool where signal reflection and multipath interference made acoustic localization difficult. Advanced Navigation provided the Subsonus USBL system to support this task.

Advanced Navigation’s Subsonus USBL, with its 8-channel hydrophone array and tuned operating frequencies, helped Desert WAVE accurately locate the beacon and improve navigation in the difficult environment. After extensive pre-competition testing, the team used the system to reduce interference and perform critical straight-line travel and acoustic-location tasks, ultimately finishing third overall in RoboSub 2019, earning $3,000 and becoming the highest-ranking U.S. team in the competition.

Desert WAVE

Faridodin ‘Fredi’ Lajvardi

Vice President