Fuzzy Docking Guidance Using Augmented Navigation System on an AUV

A fundamental successful docking operation requires the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to be able to guide, navigate, and control itself into the docking station in a strategic manner and even possibly execute different maneuvers at different mission phases, depending on docking scenario, requirements, and homing sensor type. A docking station, due to environmental or mission requirements, is possibly oriented at a specific direction instead of allowing omnidirectional homing, and necessitates vehicle docking in only this direction. Depending on the operating environment, either wave or current presence or both can result in a dominating disturbance to the vehicle docking operation. In this work, an inverted ultrashort baseline (USBL) system is used as the main homing sensor to complement the existing navigation suite on the DSO-developed AUV. A docking guidance system was designed and implemented using the Sugeno fuzzy inference system (FIS). A desired heading vector field and the fuzzy rules were developed to perform the fuzzy docking maneuver. An error-state Kalman filter (KF) was designed, formulated, and implemented successfully on the AUV and has proven to perform excellent relative positioning estimation in sea trials. A software architecture was designed for the docking algorithms, and implemented onto a single board computer in the AUV. A sensor fusion approach to the software programming was adopted to ensure that navigation data from all navigation sensors are properly acquired and synchronized. A docking station was designed and eventually deployed at sea for docking trials. Successful AUV docking attempts at sea trials were demonstrated, thus showing the effectiveness of the implemented docking algorithms.

[1]  Yong-Kon Lim,et al.  Docking problem and guidance laws considering drift for an underactuated AUV , 2011, OCEANS 2011 IEEE - Spain.

[2]  Stephen Yurkovich,et al.  Fuzzy Control , 1997 .

[3]  Kai Wei Ong,et al.  Obstacle detection, avoidance and anti collision for MEREDITH AUV , 2009, OCEANS 2009.

[4]  S. Cowen,et al.  Underwater docking of autonomous undersea vehicles using optical terminal guidance , 1997, Oceans '97. MTS/IEEE Conference Proceedings.

[5]  P. B. Sujit,et al.  AUV docking on a moving submarine using a K-R navigation function , 2011, 2011 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[6]  Dan Simon,et al.  Optimal State Estimation: Kalman, H∞, and Nonlinear Approaches , 2006 .

[7]  T. Austin,et al.  Autonomous Docking Demonstrations with Enhanced REMUS Technology , 2006, OCEANS 2006.

[8]  Zheping Yan,et al.  Design of a visual guiding system for IAUV docking , 2009, 2009 International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation.

[9]  B.W. Hobson,et al.  Docking Control System for a 54-cm-Diameter (21-in) AUV , 2008, IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering.

[10]  K. Hamilton,et al.  Autonomous docking for Intervention-AUVs using sonar and video-based real-time 3D pose estimation , 2003, Oceans 2003. Celebrating the Past ... Teaming Toward the Future (IEEE Cat. No.03CH37492).

[11]  S. M. Smith,et al.  Performance results of a fuzzy behavioral altitude flight controller and rendezvous and docking of an autonomous underwater vehicles with fuzzy control , 1996, Proceedings of Symposium on Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Technology.

[12]  Boriana L. Milenova,et al.  Fuzzy and neural approaches in engineering , 1997 .

[13]  S. M. Smith,et al.  Experimental results of an inexpensive short baseline acoustic positioning system for AUV navigation , 1997, Oceans '97. MTS/IEEE Conference Proceedings.

[14]  M. Perrier,et al.  A fully autonomous docking strategy for Intervention AUVs , 2007, OCEANS 2007 - Europe.

[15]  Richard A. Brown,et al.  Introduction to random signals and applied kalman filtering (3rd ed , 2012 .

[16]  E. An,et al.  A Robust Fuzzy Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Docking Approach for Unknown Current Disturbances , 2012, IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering.

[17]  S. M. Smith,et al.  A Fuzzy Rule Based Docking Procedure For Autonomous Underwater Vehicles , 1992, OCEANS 92 Proceedings@m_Mastering the Oceans Through Technology.

[18]  M. D. Feezor,et al.  Autonomous underwater vehicle homing/docking via electromagnetic guidance , 2001 .

[19]  Hoe Eng Teo.  A robust AUV docking guidance and navigation approach to handling unknown current disturbances , 2010 .

[20]  Pakpong Jantapremjit,et al.  Control and guidance for homing and docking tasks using an autonomous underwater vehicle , 2007, 2007 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

[21]  G.J.S. Rae,et al.  Applications of fuzzy logic to the control of an autonomous underwater vehicle , 1993, [Proceedings 1993] Second IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems.

[22]  Jun-Ho Oh,et al.  Experiments on vision guided docking of an autonomous underwater vehicle using one camera , 2009 .

[23]  Yong-Kon Lim,et al.  Modified linear terminal guidance for docking and a time-varying ocean current observer , 2011, 2011 IEEE Symposium on Underwater Technology and Workshop on Scientific Use of Submarine Cables and Related Technologies.

[24]  Yong-Kon Lim,et al.  Improvement of vision guided underwater docking for small AUV ISiMI , 2009, OCEANS 2009.