Control and navigation of the variable buoyancy AUV for underwater landing and takeoff

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) can be effectively applied to oceanographic research. However, long-term marine environment measuring is impractical for AUVs because the energy storage is limited. The objective of this paper is to develop the variable buoyancy AUVs with the capacity of landing and bottom-sitting for an extended measuring period and minimum energy consumption. In order to land safely on the expected position on the seafloor, a variable buoyancy system (VBS) has been developed for the AUVs by using water ballast. The ballast operation and landing motion of the AUVs should meet the requirements of landing position/attitude accuracy on the seafloor. The navigation procedure of an AUV for landing and taking-off involves the following steps: deployment; navigation; landing; measuring operation on the seafloor; takeoff; and return navigation. With regard to landing strategy, the bidirectional motion planning method is developed to generate the trajectory for landing on an expected location. The real AUV follows the track which the virtual AUV generates to land on the expected location. A landing controller is designed by using sliding mode fuzzy control (SMFC) technique. The simulation results show that the method performs effectively.

[1]  Joan Batlle,et al.  Recent trends in control architectures for autonomous underwater vehicles , 1999, Int. J. Syst. Sci..

[2]  Tamaki Ura.  Development of autonomous underwater vehicles in Japan , 2002, Adv. Robotics.

[3]  C.-C. Huang,et al.  Design of a sliding mode fuzzy controller for the guidance and control of an autonomous underwater vehicle , 2003 .

[4]  A. J. Marco,et al.  Command, Control and Navigation: Experimental Results with the NPS , 2001 .

[5]  Junku Yuh,et al.  Design and Control of Autonomous Underwater Robots: A Survey , 2000, Auton. Robots.

[6]  Maja Matijasevic,et al.  Control architectures for autonomous underwater vehicles , 1997 .

[7]  J. Chudley,et al.  An online genetic algorithm based model predictive control autopilot design with experimental verification , 2005 .

[8]  Stewart A. L. Glegg,et al.  A passive sonar system based on an autonomous underwater vehicle , 2001 .

[9]  R. Stokey,et al.  A modular approach for sensor integration on the REMUS vehicle , 2003, Oceans 2003. Celebrating the Past ... Teaming Toward the Future (IEEE Cat. No.03CH37492).

[10]  Feijun Song,et al.  Design of sliding mode fuzzy controllers for an autonomous underwater vehicle without system model , 2000, OCEANS 2000 MTS/IEEE Conference and Exhibition. Conference Proceedings (Cat. No.00CH37158).

[11]  T. Pfuetzenreuter.  Advanced mission management for long-range autonomous underwater vehicles , 2003, Oceans 2003. Celebrating the Past ... Teaming Toward the Future (IEEE Cat. No.03CH37492).

[12]  M. Purcell,et al.  REMUS: a small, low cost AUV; system description, field trials and performance results , 1997, Oceans '97. MTS/IEEE Conference Proceedings.

[13]  A.J. Sorensen,et al.  Design of control system of torpedo shaped ROV with experimental results , 2004, Oceans '04 MTS/IEEE Techno-Ocean '04 (IEEE Cat. No.04CH37600).

[14]  A. J. Healey,et al.  Multivariable sliding mode control for autonomous diving and steering of unmanned underwater vehicles , 1993 .

[15]  L. Rodrigues,et al.  Sliding mode control of an AUV in the diving and steering planes , 1996, OCEANS 96 MTS/IEEE Conference Proceedings. The Coastal Ocean - Prospects for the 21st Century.

[16]  Pan-Mook Lee,et al.  A docking and control system for an autonomous underwater vehicle , 2002, OCEANS '02 MTS/IEEE.

[17]  D. Green,et al.  Development of integrated, autonomous, modem-based underwater observatories , 2004, Oceans '04 MTS/IEEE Techno-Ocean '04 (IEEE Cat. No.04CH37600).

[18]  C. C. Huang,et al.  Application of the sliding mode fuzzy controller to the guidance and control of an autonomous underwater vehicle , 2000, Proceedings of the 2000 International Symposium on Underwater Technology (Cat. No.00EX418).

[19]  Roger Skjetne,et al.  Line-of-sight path following of underactuated marine craft , 2003 .

[20]  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.

[21]  Bong-Huan Jun,et al.  A Neural Network Adaptive Controller for Autonomous Diving Control of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle , 2004 .

[22]  P.E. Hagen,et al.  Military operations with HUGIN AUVs: lessons learned and the way ahead , 2005, Europe Oceans 2005.

[23]  Bin Xu,et al.  A sliding mode fuzzy controller for underwater vehicle-manipulator systems , 2005, NAFIPS 2005 - 2005 Annual Meeting of the North American Fuzzy Information Processing Society.