Hybrid Observer Combining Measurements of Different Fidelities

Abstract

A signal-based hybrid observer combining measurements of different fidelities is proposed for position and velocity estimation of marine vessels. The concept assumes that noisy position measurements are available only sporadically at a non-constant sampling rate. Predictions of position between the samples are provided by integrating acceleration measurements, which are available at a high rate (approximated to be continuous sampling). Estimates with smaller variance are computed by averaging multiple observer copies of the position. This work is a continuation of the observer proposed in Brodtkorb et al. (2015). The main contributions of this paper is extending the observer to the more realistic scenario where linear velocity and angular acceleration measurements are not available. A simulation study showed that the observer performed well in closed loop with a controller conducting dynamic positioning operations of a marine vessel.