Hierarchical Control of Underwater Vehicle Variable Ballast Systems

In this paper, a hierarchical on-off type variable ballast system (VBS) is proposed to improve the performance of hovering control of underwater vehicles. While the upper layer is a PD-type planner which outputs demanded mass of ballast water, the lower layer is an on-off type flowrate controller to track output of the upper layer, i.e., the demanded mass of ballast water. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is verified by both simulations and tank tests of diving control of an underwater flight vehicle.

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