Class Of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles Research Articles

Distributed task allocation and mission planning of AUVs for persistent underwater ecological monitoring and preservation

This paper presents a robust cooperative distributed task allocation and mission planning system that enables a fleet of a certain class of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) for persistent underwater ecological monitoring and preservation. The proposed system is developed based on a distributed algorithm that optimizes task allocation and mission planning in real-time while considering environmental constraints, sensor capabilities, communication limitations, as well as system failures. A realistic case study of monitoring and control of Crown-Of-Thorns Starfish (COTS) in Australia's Great Barrier is utilized to investigate how the proposed system can contribute to the inspection and eradication of the maximum possible COTS in a limited mission time in the exposure of uncertainty of mission failure caused by internal/external faults. The effectiveness and robustness of our approach are validated through extensive qualitative and quantitative simulations.

A Novel 3D Path Following Scheme for a Class of Underactuated Underwater Vehicles with Unconventional Actuation

A 3D path following algorithm involving a novel motion control methodology is investigated for use on a new class of autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). Unlike standard path following AUV control algorithms for underactuated vehicles, where roll perturbations are avoided, this unconventional algorithm utilizes active roll control to achieve a desired heading. The desired heading is calculated using traditional look-ahead techniques, and is achieved by performing a roll rotation to align the body-fixed yaw plane with the desired heading, and then a yaw rotation is performed to achieve that desired heading. It is demonstrated that this new path following algorithm achieves good tracking results, but experiences complications for increased forward velocities. It is also demonstrated that the complications at higher velocities can be overcome with adaptive adjustment of the look-ahead algorithm parameters.

A Cooperative Dynamic Task Assignment Framework for COTSBot AUVs

This paper presents a cooperative dynamic task assignment framework for a certain class of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) employed to control outbreak of Crown-Of-Thorns Starfish (COTS) in Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The problem of monitoring and controlling the COTS is transcribed into a constrained task assignment problem in which eradicating clusters of COTS, by the injection system of COTSbot AUVs, is considered as a task. A probabilistic map of the operating environment including seabed terrain, clusters of COTS, and coastlines is constructed. Then, a novel heuristic algorithm called Heuristic Fleet Cooperation (HFC) is developed to provide a cooperative injection of the COTSbot AUVs to the maximum possible COTS in an assigned mission time. Extensive simulation studies together with quantitative performance analysis are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed cooperative task assignment algorithm in eradicating the COTS in the Great Barrier Reef.

Steering control design and simulation of hybrid underwater glider

A new class of autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a hybrid underwater glider (HUG) that integrates buoyancy engine and propeller as the main actuator. This kind of vehicle has multi-mode to act that is glider and AUV mode that derive to the mathematical model for the longitudinal and lateral plane. To design steer control of HUG, the mathematical model derives to a linear equation, and the variable controller is rudder for yaw control and main thruster for speed control of HUG. The method of control design is Proportional, Integral and Derivative (PID), there is PD for yaw controller and P for speed controller that are simulated using MATLAB/Simulink to get a response so that we can verify the dynamic model for steering control using waypoint desire. The results demonstrate dynamic response for the lateral plane over waypoint on the surfaces of water.

Dynamic Modeling and Motion Simulation of a Movable-Winged Underwater Glider

Underwater gliders are a class of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) that offer many advantages over traditional AUVs. Previous research has mainly focused on underwater gliders with fixed wings. This paper studied a novel underwater glider whose wings can pitch independently about its installed shaft, called Movable-Winged Underwater Glider (MWUG). A 6-DOF model of dynamics for MWUG was developed based on Newton’s law and Euler’s equation, gravity, buoyancy, added mass forces and hydrodynamic forces considered. Longitudinal motion simulations were conducted to clarify the motion characteristics of MWUG. Results of the simulations indicated that compared to fix-winged gliders, MWUGs show a smaller glide angle and attack angle, higher glide speed and efficiency

Evaluation of AUV-based ADCP measurements

Recent development and commercialization of relatively portable and inexpensive autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) have led to new methods for making hydrodynamic, chemical, and biological measurements in near-coastal, lake, and estuarine systems. Equipped with Doppler velocity log (DVL) technology to allow for deadreckoning navigation, this new class of AUVs has the potential to log not only vehicle motions, but water velocities as well. In this article, we assess the performance of the DVL acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) equipped on the REMUS AUV (Hydroid) in three different environments: a tidally forced lake; a wave-forced, near-shore fringing coral reef; and a gently sloping continental shelf. In all three data sets, the water velocities measured by the AUV DVL compare favorably with measurements from nearby stationary acoustic Doppler current profilers. Nevertheless, the water velocity component measured parallel to the vehicle's tracks exhibited a bias in the direction of AUV motion, consistent with a previously reported bias found for the ship-mounted ADCP application in low-scattering environments. The fringing reef data suggest that DVLs are capable of partially resolving wave motions.