Inertial sensors applications in underwater measurements

Over the past decades microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) researchers have demonstrated a number of microsensors for almost every possible sensing modality, including attitudes. Current MEMS inertial measurement units (IMU) come in many shapes, sizes, and costs — depending on the application, and performance required. MEMS sensors have proved and demonstrated performance exceeding those of their macroscale counterpart sensors. In the paper chosen IMU applications in underwater measurements are presented. First, for reduction of instability of the underwater sensor during measurements, like multibeam echosounder system (MBES), where the MEMS parameters’ quality are crucial for further MBES record-processing. Second, in underwater navigation systems, for determining the position of underwater vehicles, like Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV) and, more recently, Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) or to improve other positioning methods.