On the adaptive control of remotely operated underwater vehicles

Abstract

AbstractConventional autopilots for remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) are difficult to design because the vessels' dynamics are strongly coupled, significantly non‐linear and vary according to the operating configuration. In addition, the derivation of the open‐loop dynamics requires the use of expensive, specialized testing equipment and is prone to error. A solution is to implement adaptive controllers. Three such schemes are presented here: the first two use a robust control law based on a simplified model of the open‐loop dynamics and off‐ and on‐line identification, while the third is an implicit linear quadratic on‐line adaptive controller. These controllers are evaluated by examining their performance when controlling a comprehensive non‐linear ROV simulation. The navigational hardware needed to realize an adaptive ROV auotopilot is also discussed.