Parallel Neural Network-Based Motion Controller for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

A parallel neural network-based controller （PNNC） is presented for the motion control of underwater vehicles in this paper. It consists of a real-time part, a self-learning part and a desired-state programmer, and it is different from normal adaptive neural network controller in structure. Owing to the introduction of the self-learning part, on-line learning can be performed without sample data in several sample periods, resulting in high learning speed of the controller and good control performance. The desired-state programmer is utilized to obtain better learning samples of the neural network to keep the stability of the controller. The developed controller is applied to the 4-degree of freedom control of the AUV “IUV- IV” and is successful on the simulation platform. The control performance is also compared with that of neural network controller with different structures such as normal adaptive neural network and different learning methods. Current effects and surge velocity control are also included to demonstrate the controller＇ s performance. It is shown that the PNNC has a great possibility to solve the problems in the control system design of underwater vehicles.

Tracking Control of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles with Internal Moving Mass

追踪轨道的控制问题被调查为一自治在水下作为致动器用一个内部点团和一个后面的推进器搬到垂直飞机的车辆(AUV ) 。与点团的动力学结合了， AUV 作为一个 underactuated 系统被建模。一个基于 Lyapunov 的追踪控制器被使用 backstepping 途径稳定错误动力学并且强迫位置错误到起源的一位小邻居建议。模拟结果验证建议追踪的途径。

Analysis and innovation of key technologies for autonomous underwater vehicles

As the mission needs of the autonomous underwater vehicles(AUV) have become increasingly varied and complex,the AUVs are developing in the direction of systematism, multifunction, and clustering technology, which promotes the progress of key technologies and proposes a series of technical problems. Therefore, it is necessary to make systemic analysis and in-depth study for the progress of AUV's key technologies and innovative applications. The multi-functional mission needs and its key technologies involved in complex sea conditions are pointed out through analyzing the domestic and foreign technical programs, functional characteristics and future development plans. Furthermore, the overall design of a multi-moving state AUV is proposed. Then, technical innovations of the key technologies, such as thrust vector, propeller design, kinematics and dynamics, navigation control, and ambient flow field characteristics, are made, combining with the structural characteristics and motion characteristics of the new multi-moving state AUV. The results verify the good performance of the multi-moving state AUV and provide a theoretical guidance and technical support for the design of new AUV in real complex sea conditions.

Dynamics Modeling and Simulation of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles with Appendages

为设计并且调试提供一个模拟系统平台一小自治在水下车辆(AUV ) 运动控制器，一自由(6-DOF ) 六度为推进器和鳍与附器控制的 AUV 的动态模型被检查。基于动态模型，为 AUV 运动的一个模拟系统被建立。典型运动的不同类型被模仿分析运动表演和 AUV 的可操作性。以便在 AUV 的运动表演上评估附器的影响，有或没有附器的 AUV 的模拟被执行并且比较。结果证明 AUV 有或没有附器有好可操作性。

Numerical computation and analysis of high-speed autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) moving in head sea based on dynamic mesh

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) navigating on the sea surface are usually required to complete the communication tasks in complex sea conditions.The movement forms and flow field characteristics of a multi-moving state AUV navigating in head sea at high speed were studied.The mathematical model on longitudinal motion of the high-speed AUV in head sea was established with considering the hydrodynamic lift based on strip theory,which was solved to get the heave and pitch of the AUV by Gaussian elimination method.Based on this,computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method was used to establish the mathematical model of the unsteady viscous flow around the AUV with considering free surface effort by using the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations,shear-stress transport (SST) k-w model and volume of fluid (VOF) model.The three-dimensional numerical wave in the computational field was realized through defining the unsteady inlet boundary condition.The motion forms of the AUV navigating in head sea at high speed were carried out by the program source code of user-defined function (UDF) based on dynamic mesh.The hydrodynamic parameters of the AUV such as drag,lift,pitch torque,velocity,pressure,and wave profile were got,which reflect well the real ambient flow field of the AUV navigating in head sea at high speed.The computational wave profile agrees well with the experimental phenomenon of a wave-piercing surface vehicle.The force law of the AUV under the impacts of waves was analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively,which provides an effective theoretical guidance and technical support for the dynamics research and shape design of the AUV in real complex environment.

Adaptive Backstepping Terminal Sliding Mode Control Method Based on Recurrent Neural Networks for Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

The trajectory tracking control problem is addressed for autonomous underwater vehicle(AUV) in marine environ?ment, with presence of the influence of the uncertain factors including ocean current disturbance, dynamic modeling uncertainty, and thrust model errors. To improve the trajectory tracking accuracy of AUV, an adaptive backstepping terminal sliding mode control based on recurrent neural networks(RNN) is proposed. Firstly, considering the inaccu?rate of thrust model of thruster, a Taylor’s polynomial is used to obtain the thrust model errors. And then, the dynamic modeling uncertainty and thrust model errors are combined into the system model uncertainty(SMU) of AUV; through the RNN, the SMU and ocean current disturbance are classified, approximated online. Finally, the weights of RNN and other control parameters are adjusted online based on the backstepping terminal sliding mode controller. In addition, a chattering?reduction method is proposed based on sigmoid function. In chattering?reduction method, the sigmoid function is used to realize the continuity of the sliding mode switching function, and the sliding mode switching gain is adjusted online based on the exponential form of the sliding mode function. Based on the Lyapu?nov theory and Barbalat’s lemma, it is theoretically proved that the AUV trajectory tracking error can quickly converge to zero in the finite time. This research proposes a trajectory tracking control method of AUV, which can e ectively achieve high?precision trajectory tracking control of AUV under the influence of the uncertain factors. The feasibility and e ectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated with trajectory tracking simulations and pool?experi?ments of AUV.

Bio-inspired geomagnetic navigation method for autonomous underwater vehicle

This paper presents a bio-inspired geomagnetic navigation method for autonomous underwater vehicle(AUV) without using any a priori geomagnetic information. Firstly, the multi-objective search problem is raised. Secondly, the geomagnetic navigation model is established by constructing a cost function. Then, by taking into consideration the biological magneto-taxis movement behavior for the geomagnetic environment stimulus, the multiobjective evolutionary search algorithm is derived to describe the search process. Finally, compared to the state-of-the-art, the proposed method presents better robustness. The simulation results demonstrate the reliability and feasibility of the proposed method.

Nonlinear trajectory tracking control of a new autonomous underwater vehicle in complex sea conditions

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) navigating in complex sea conditions usually require a strong control system to keep the fastness and stability. The nonlinear trajectory tracking control system of a new AUV in complex sea conditions was presented. According to the theory of submarines,the six-DOF kinematic and dynamic models were decomposed into two mutually non-coupled vertical and horizontal plane subsystems. Then,different sliding mode control algorithms were used to study the trajectory tracking control. Because the yaw angle and yaw angle rate rather than the displacement of the new AUV can be measured directly on the horizontal plane,the sliding mode control algorithm combining cross track error method and line of sight method was used to fulfill its high-precision trajectory tracking control in the complex sea conditions. As the vertical displacement of the new AUV can be measured,in order to achieve the tracking of time-varying depth signal,a stable sliding mode controller was designed based on the single-input multi-state system,which took into account the characteristic of the hydroplane and the amplitude and rate constraints of the hydroplane angle. Moreover,the application of dynamic boundary layer can improve the robustness and control accuracy of the system. The computational results show that the designed sliding mode control systems of the horizontal and vertical planes can ensure the trajectory tracking performance and accuracy of the new AUV in complex sea conditions. The impacts of currents and waves on the sliding mode controller of the new AUV were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively by comparing the trajectory tracking performance of the new AUV in different sea conditions,which provides an effective theoretical guidance and technical support for the control system design of the new AUV in real complex environment.

Stability Analysis on Speed Control System of Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

The stability of the motion control system is one of the decisive factors of the control quality for Autonomous Underwater Vehicle（AUV）.The divergence of control,which the unstable system may be brought about,is fatal to the operation of AUV.The stability analysis of the PD and S-surface speed controllers based on the Lyapunov＇s direct method is proposed in this paper.After decoupling the six degree-of-freedom（DOF）motions of the AUV,the axial dynamic behavior is discussed and the condition is deduced,in which the parameters selection within stability domain can guarantee the system asymptotically stable.The experimental results in a tank and on the sea have successfully verified the algorithm reliability,which can be served as a good reference for analyzing other AUV nonlinear control systems.

Reinforcement learning based parameter optimization of active disturbance rejection control for autonomous underwater vehicle

This paper proposes a liner active disturbance rejection control(LADRC) method based on the Q-Learning algorithm of reinforcement learning(RL) to control the six-degree-of-freedom motion of an autonomous underwater vehicle(AUV).The number of controllers is increased to realize AUV motion decoupling.At the same time, in order to avoid the oversize of the algorithm, combined with the controlled content, a simplified Q-learning algorithm is constructed to realize the parameter adaptation of the LADRC controller.Finally, through the simulation experiment of the controller with fixed parameters and the controller based on the Q-learning algorithm, the rationality of the simplified algorithm, the effectiveness of parameter adaptation, and the unique advantages of the LADRC controller are verified.

Development of A Three-Dimensional Guidance System for Long-Range Maneuvering of A Miniature Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

The present paper introduces a three-dimensional guidance system developed for a miniature Autonomous Underwater Vehicle（AUV）. The guidance system determines the best trajectory for the vehicle based on target behavior and vehicle capabilities. The dynamic model of this novel AUV is derived based on its special characteristics such as the horizontal posture and the independent diving mechanism. To design the guidance strategy, the main idea is to select the desired depth, presumed proportional to the horizontal distance of the AUV and the target. By connecting the two with a straight line, this strategy helps the AUV move in a trajectory sufficiently close to this line. The adjacency of the trajectory to the line leads to reasonably short travelling distances and avoids unsafe areas. Autopilots are designed using sliding mode controller. Two different engagement geometries are considered to evaluate the strategy＇s performance： stationary target and moving target. The simulation results show that the strategy can provide sufficiently fast and smooth trajectories in both target situations.

Using Unmanned Underwater Vehicles as Research Platforms in Coastal Ocean Studies

The advantages of using unmanned underwater vehicles in coastal ocean studies are emphasized. Two types of representative vehicles, remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) from University of South Florida, are discussed. Two individual modular sensor packages designed and tested for these platforms and field measurement results are also presented. The bottom classification and albedo package, BCAP, provides fast and accurate estimates of bottom albedos, along with other parameters such as in-water remote sensing reflectance. The real-time ocean bottom optical topographer, ROBOT, reveals high-resolution 3-dimentional bottom topography for target identification. Field data and results from recent Coastal Benthic Optical Properties field campaign, 1999 and 2000, are presented. Advantages and limitations of these vehicles and applications of modular sensor packages are compared and discussed.

面向海底管道巡检的AUV三维自适应路径跟踪

针对面向海底管道巡检任务的欠驱动自主水下航行器(AUV)三维路径跟踪控制问题进行研究。首先,在固定坐标系和机体坐标系下建立AUV的运动学模型,为设计适宜运动控制的三维路径跟踪控制器,建立流体坐标系,并在Serret-Frenet坐标系下建立AUV的路径跟踪误差模型;其次,将可变前视距离引入传统视线(LOS)制导策略,提出一种自适应LOS制导策略以提高制导精度,并基于此设计面向海底管道巡检的AUV三维路径跟踪控制器,使得AUV可有效跟踪设定的参数化路径;最后,基于李雅普诺夫稳定性理论证明了闭环系统的稳定性。仿真结果验证了所提面向海底管道巡检的三维路径跟踪控制器的有效性。研究成果能够改善AUV的操纵性,可为面向海底管道巡检的无人水下航行器路径跟踪控制方法提供参考。

Dynamic Modeling and Motion Simulation for A Winged Hybrid-Driven Underwater Glider

PETREL, a winged hybrid-driven underwater glider is a novel and practical marine survey platform which combines the features of legacy underwater glider and conventional AUV （autonomous underwater vehicle）. It can be treated as a multi-rigid-body system with a floating base and a particular hydrodynamic profile. In this paper, theorems on linear and angular momentum are used to establish the dynamic equations of motion of each rigid body and the effect of translational and rotational motion of internal masses on the attitude control are taken into consideration. In addition, due to the unique external shape with fixed wings and deflectable rudders and the dual-drive operation in thrust and glide modes, the approaches of building dynamic model of conventional AUV and hydrodynamic model of submarine are introduced, and the tailored dynamic equations of the hybrid glider are formulated. Moreover, the behaviors of motion in glide and thrust operation are analyzed based on the simulation and the feasibility of the dynamic model is validated by data from lake field trials.

AUV终端对接的单目视觉导引方法研究

在水下复杂环境中高效回收自主潜水器(AUV)是一项重大的技术挑战。本文提出了一种利用单目视觉检测和跟踪对接站上光环标识进行终端对接的方法。为了提高光源特征识别,本文改进了Canny边缘检测算法,采用自适应阈值方法动态调整光源轮廓,并在阈值最优时采用最小外接圆方法确定光源中心。此外,利用几何位置和面积约束消除水面反射的干扰。在视觉定位和跟踪方面,采用张氏标定法获取相机的内部参数和畸变参数,通过比较光环中心和图像中心来估计AUV的航向和俯仰偏差,然后利用位置-姿态PID控制器进行快速跟踪。水池实验结果表明,该方法简单实用,鲁棒性强,能够为未来水下机器人的可靠回收提供一定技术参考。

基于COMGRU的AUV航路轨迹预测方法

针对采用神经网络预测自主水下机器人航迹存在滞后性的问题,本文提出一种基于信息压缩的改进门控循环神经网络,用于水下自主机器人航路多步轨迹预测。该算法将水下自主机器人航行轨迹附近的障碍物位置信息、海流信息以及时空轨迹信息共同构成的地理位置信息进行数据压缩处理,作为本文预测网络的输入,以提高网络训练效率。实验验证该算法减少了水下自主机器人航迹多步预测的滞后性且具有较高的准确率。

基于MPC-MRAC的用于子母式AUV投放的子AUV控制算法

针对水下搜救、水下集群作业等场合对负载能力、响应速度和多体协同的特殊要求,提出一种子母式自主水下航行器(AUV)概念。针对子母式AUV中的子AUV平台进行投放过程设计与分析,并对不同运动模式下的子AUV进行受力分析和建模。根据子AUV运动特性设计一套基于模型预测控制-模型参考自适应控制算法(MPC-MRAC)的子AUV控制算法,并进行仿真。结果显示:该算法具有较快的响应速度和控制稳定性,适用于子AUV投放后的自主运动控制;其响应速度比反演滑模控制算法快42.48%,比比例积分微分(PID)控制算法快87.05%;控制精度比反演滑模控制算法高77.54%,比PID控制算法高76.19%。针对该系统设计制作样机并开展湖上试验,结果表明,子AUV控制算法具有良好的可行性和可靠性,可顺利实现子AUV投放后运行的安全可靠。子AUV在出舱后经过短时间姿态变化,成功与母AUV分离并顺利进行定深任务,最终达到近似等距分布的效果。研究成果可为用于子母式AUV投放的子AUV提供控制算法基础。

A Potential Flow Based Flight Simulator for an Underwater Glider

在水下滑翔机是最近的创新类型自治在水下车辆(AUV ) 在海洋探索和观察使用了。他们调整快活潜水并且回到海洋表面。在高度的变化期间，他们使用力量由他们的翅膀开发了向前移动的水动力学。他们的班机被改变他们的重心和他们的快活的位置调整他们的修剪和脚跟角度控制。为更好的飞行控制，水动力学行为的理解和飞行力学在水下滑翔机是必要的。A 6-DOF 运动模拟器被结合为这个目的一个不稳定的潜在的流动模型。在一些特定的盒子中，数字学习证明一种不恰当的 stabilizer 尺寸能引起相反驾驶的行为。模拟器能被用来改进自动飞行控制。它能也被用于设备的水动力学设计优化。