The Acoustic Navigation Processor is a three-mode, long baseline navigation program that executes on low-power, embeddable, PC-104-compatible hardware for operation on AUV's, manned- subs or ROV's. The three modes consist of two active (master and slave) modes for normal long baseline navigation and one passive mode for positioning on fixed, pinger-interrogated arrays.

In slave mode, the surface vessel interrogates the vehicle as a normal relay transponder and determines the vehicle's position in the traditional way. At the same time, the vehicle's ANP computes its position in the array and communicates it to the vehicle's CPU. Thus, both the surface vessel and the vehicle know where the vehicle is. In master mode, the vehicle navigates independently on the array and the surface vessel has no knowledge of its position. In passive mode, a pinger at a known position normally interrogates the array and the ANP determines its position by listening to the array's response. The passive mode may also be managed by coordinated cycle logic without a bottom pinger - only a beacon on the vehicle.

AUV's and ROV's: The ANP is designed to operate with any autonomous or tethered vehicle with a host CPU and a serial communications port. For AUV's, the host CPU must have its own intelligent software to control the ANP. For ROV applications, a surface program can act as the controller.

Manned-Sub's: The ANP is connected to suitable navigation program running on a separate CPU for complete control of the ANP / Transceiver navigation system. This allows the submariner to concentrate on navigation rather long baseline management.

Operating Hardware:	PC-104-compatible computer with COM1, COM2, LPT1, and flash disk (or equivalent) running MS-DOS 6.2+.
Acoustic Transceiver:	Call
Communications:	Bidirectional RS-232C using COM1 and COM2 ports. COM1 dedicated to external control, COM2 dedicated to transceiver.
Command/Control:	Complete external parameter and operational control via COM1 port. Structured command set with error checking between vehicle and ANP. External control includes clock matching, X, Y and Zed starting seeds, range gate control, cycle time, maximum allowable error, depth fixing mode, fix format type (Lat/Long vs. UTM), output power, transponder usage, use of ray-path-bending, solution for motion, etc.
Parameter Loading:	COM1 initialization string via separate software.
Depth Input:	Provided by vehicle CPU (e.g. by software or sub/auv/rov sensor, etc.)
Acoustic Fixes:	Choice of UTM and Latitude/Longitude strings.
Output Formats:	Usage report, rms, time, etc. Synchronization of clock/calender setting between vehicle and host.
Dockside Testing:	VGA monitor, keyboard and floppy disk may be attached to the ANP's PC-104 hardware for diagnostics and testing.
Data Logging:	Strings logged as received for post-processing. Log file and parameters and Other may be retrieved via COM1. Log file overwrite or append. Additional acoustic cycle control commands from vehicle CPU.

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