Autonomous ROV inspections of aquaculture net pens using DVL

This article presents a method for guiding a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to autonomously traverse an aquaculture net pen. The method is based on measurements from a Doppler velocity log (DVL) and uses the measured length of the DVL beam vectors to approximate the geometry of a local region of the net pen in front of the ROV. The ROV position and orientation relative to this net pen approximation are used as inputs to a nonlinear guidance law. The guidance law is based upon the line-of-sight (LOS) guidance law. By utilizing that an ROV is fully actuated in the horizontal plane, the crosstrack error is minimized independently of the ROV heading. A Lyapunov analysis of the closed-loop system with this guidance law shows that the ROV is able to follow a continuous path in the presence of a constant irrotational ocean current. Finally, results from simulations and experiments demonstrating the performance of the net pen approximation and control system are presented.acceptedVersio

Underactuated leader-follower synchronisation for multi-agent systems with rejection of unknown disturbances

Author preprintIn this paper leader-follower synchronization is considered for underactuated followers in an inhomogeneous multi-agent system. The goal is to synchronise the motion of a leader and an underactuated follower. Measurements of the leader's position and velocity are available, while the dynamics and trajectory of the leader is unknown. The leader velocities are used as input for a constant bearing guidance algorithm to assure that the follower synchronises its motion to the leader. It is also shown that the proposed leader-follower scheme can be applied to multi-agent systems that are subjected to unknown environmental disturbances. Furthermore, the trajectory of the leader does not need to be known. The stability properties of the complete control scheme and the unactuated internal dynamics are analysed using nonlinear cascaded system theory. Simulation results are presented to validate the proposed control strategy.Preprint version. © IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other users, including reprinting/ republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted components of this work in other works

Challenges and Opportunities of Self-healing Polymers and Devices for Extreme and Hostile Environments

Engineering materials and devices can be damaged during their service life as a result of mechanical fatigue, punctures, electrical breakdown, and electrochemical corrosion. This damage can lead to unexpected failure during operation, which requires regular inspection, repair, and replacement of the products, resulting in additional energy consumption and cost. During operation in challenging, extreme, or harsh environments, such as those encountered in high or low temperature, nuclear, offshore, space, and deep mining environments, the robustness and stability of materials and devices are extremely important. Over recent decades, significant effort has been invested into improving the robustness and stability of materials through either structural design, the introduction of new chemistry, or improved manufacturing processes. Inspired by natural systems, the creation of self-healing materials has the potential to overcome these challenges and provide a route to achieve dynamic repair during service. Current research on self-healing polymers remains in its infancy, and self-healing behavior under harsh and extreme conditions is a particularly untapped area of research. Here, the self-healing mechanisms and performance of materials under a variety of harsh environments are discussed. An overview of polymer-based devices developed for a range of challenging environments is provided, along with areas for future research

통합형 무인 수상선-케이블-수중선 시스템의 다물체동역학 거동 및 제어

Underwater exploration is becoming more and more important, since a vast range of unknown resources in the deep ocean remain undeveloped. This dissertation thus presents a modeling of the coupled dynamics of an Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) system with an Underwater Vehicles (UV) connected by an underwater cable (UC). The complexity of this multi-body dynamics system and ocean environments is very difficult to model. First, for modeling this, dynamics analysis was performed on each subsystem and further total coupled system dynamics were studied. The UV which is towed by a UC is modeled with 6-DOF equations of motion that reflects its hydrodynamic characteristic was studied. The 4th-order Runge–Kutta numerical method was used to analyze the motion of the USV with its hydrodynamic coefficients which were obtained through experiments and from the literature. To analyze the effect of the UC, the complicated nonlinear and coupled UC dynamics under currents forces, the governing equations of the UC dynamics are established based on the catenary equation method, then it is solved by applying the shooting method. The new formulation and solution of the UC dynamics yields the three dimensional position and forces of the UC end point under the current forces. Also, the advantage of the proposed method is that the catenary equations using shooting method can be solved in real time such that the calculated position and forces of UC according to time can be directly utilized to calculate the UV motion. The proposed method offers advantages of simple formulation, convenient use, and fast calculation time with exact result. Some simple numerical simulations were conducted to observe the dynamic behaviors of AUV with cable effects. The simulations results clearly reveal that the UC can greatly influence the motions of the vehicles, especially on the UV motions. Based on both the numerical model and simulation results developed in the dissertation, we may offer some valuable information for the operation of the UV and USV. Secondly, for the design controller, a PD controller and its application to automatic berthing control of USV are also studied. For this, a nonlinear mathematical model for the maneuvering of USV in the presence of environmental forces was firstly established. Then, in order to control rudder and propeller during automatic berthing process, a PD control algorithm is applied. The algorithm consists of two parts, the forward velocity control and heading angle control. The control algorithm was designed based on the longitudinal and yaw dynamic models of USV. The desired heading angle was obtained by the so-called “Line of Sight” method. To support the validity of the proposed method, the computer simulations of automatic USV berthing are carried out. The results of simulation showed good performance of the developed berthing control system. Also, a hovering-type AUV equipped with multiple thrusters should maintain the specified position and orientation in order to perform given tasks by applying a dynamic positioning (DP) system. Besides, the control allocation algorithm based on a scaling factor is presented for distributing the forces required by the control law onto the available set of actuators in the most effective and energy efficient way. Thus, it is necessary for the robust control algorithm to conduct successfully given missions in spite of a model uncertainty and a disturbance. In this dissertation, the robust DP control algorithm based on a sliding mode theory is also addressed to guarantee the stability and better performance despite the model uncertainty and disturbance of current and cable effects. Finally, a series of simulations are conducted to verify the availability of the generated trajectories and performance of the designed robust controller. Thirdly, for the navigation of UV, a method for designing the path tracking controller using a Rapidly-exploring Random Trees (RRT) algorithm is proposed. The RRT algorithm is firstly used for the generation of collision free waypoints. Next, the unnecessary waypoints are removed by a simple path pruning algorithm generating a piecewise linear path. After that, a path smoothing algorithm utilizing cubic Bezier spiral curves to generate a continuous curvature path that satisfies the minimum radius of curvature constraint of underwater is implemented. The angle between two waypoints is the only information required for the generation of the continuous curvature path. In order to underwater vehicle follow the reference path, the path tracking controller using the global Sliding Mode Control (SMC) approach is designed. To verify the performance of the proposed algorithm, some simulation results are performed. Simulation results showed that the RRT algorithm could be applied to generate an optimal path in a complex ocean environment with multiple obstacles.Acknowledgement .................................................................................................. vi Abstract……. ....................................................................................... ………….viii Nomenclature ....................................................................................................... xvi List of Abbreviations ........................................................................................... xxi List of Tables ...................................................................................................... xxiii List of Figures ..................................................................................................... xxiv Chapter 1: Introduction ......................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background .................................................................................................. 1 1.1.1 Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) ...................................................... 1 1.1.2 Umbilical Cable ....................................................................................... 4 1.1.3 Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) ............................................... 5 1.1.4 Literature on Modeling of Marine Vehicles ............................................ 9 1.1.5 Literature on Control and Guidance of Marine Vehicles ...................... 11 1.2 Our System Architecture ........................................................................... 12 1.3 Motivation ................................................................................................. 13 1.4 Contribution ............................................................................................... 16 1.5 Publications Associated to the Dissertation .............................................. 17 1.6 Structure of the Dissertation ...................................................................... 18 Chapter 2: Mathematical Model of Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) ......... 20 2.1 Basic Assumptions .................................................................................... 20 2.2 Three Coordinate Systems ......................................................................... 20 2.3 Variable Notation ...................................................................................... 22 2.4 Kinematics ................................................................................................. 23 2.5 Kinetics ...................................................................................................... 26 2.5.1 Rigid Body Equations of Motion ........................................................... 26 2.5.2 Hydrodynamic Forces and Moments ..................................................... 28 2.5.3 Restoring Forces and Moments ............................................................. 31 2.5.4 Environmental Disturbances .................................................................. 32 2.5.5 Propulsion Forces and Moments ........................................................... 35 2.6 Nonlinear 6DOF Dynamics ....................................................................... 35 2.7 Mathematical Model of USV in 3 DOF .................................................... 36 2.7.1 Planar Kinematics .................................................................................. 36 2.7.2 Planar Nonlinear 3 DOF Dynamics ....................................................... 38 2.8 Configuration of Thrusters ........................................................................ 40 2.9 General Structure and Model Parameters .................................................. 41 2.9.1 Structure of USV ................................................................................... 41 2.9.2 Control System of USV ......................................................................... 42 2.9.3 Winch Control System ........................................................................... 43 Chapter 3: Mathematical Model of the Umbilical Cable (UC) ........................ 45 3.1 Basic Assumptions for UC ........................................................................ 45 3.2 Analysis on Forces of UV ......................................................................... 47 3.3 Relation for UC Equilibrium ..................................................................... 50 3.4 Catenary Equation in the Space Case ........................................................ 51 3.5 Shooting Method ....................................................................................... 55 3.6 Boundary Conditions ................................................................................. 57 3.7 Cable Effects ............................................................................................. 58 3.8 Model Parameters and Simulation ............................................................. 59 Chapter 4: Mathematical Model of Underwater Vehicle (UV) ........................ 63 4.1 Background ................................................................................................ 63 4.1.1 Basic Assumptions................................................................................. 63 4.1.2 Reference Frames .................................................................................. 64 4.1.3 Notations ................................................................................................ 65 4.2 Kinematics Equations ................................................................................ 66 4.3 Kinetic Equations ...................................................................................... 67 4.3.1 Rigid-Body Kinetics .............................................................................. 67 4.3.2 Hydrostatic Terms ................................................................................. 69 4.3.3 Hydrodynamic Terms ............................................................................ 70 4.3.4 Actuator Modeling ................................................................................. 75 4.3.5 Umbilical Cable Forces ......................................................................... 75 4.4 Nonlinear Equations of Motion (6DOF) ................................................... 76 4.5 Simplification of UV Dynamic Model ...................................................... 77 4.5.1 Simplifying the Mass and Inertia Matrix ............................................... 78 4.5.2 Simplifying the Hydrodynamic Damping Matrix.................................. 79 4.5.3 Simplifying the Gravitational and Buoyancy Vector ............................ 80 4.6 Thruster Modeling ..................................................................................... 80 4.7 Current Modeling ...................................................................................... 83 4.8 Dynamic Model Including Ocean Currents ............................................... 84 4.9 Complete Motion Equations of AUV (6DOF) .......................................... 89 4.10 Dynamics Model Parameter Identification ................................................ 91 4.11 Numerical Solution for Equations of Motion ............................................ 93 4.12 General Structure and Model Parameters .................................................. 94 4.12.1 Structure of AUV ............................................................................... 94 4.12.2 Control System of AUV ..................................................................... 96 Chapter 5: Guidance Theory ............................................................................... 97 5.1 Configuration of GNC System .................................................................. 97 5.1.1 Guidance ................................................................................................ 98 5.1.2 Navigation .............................................................................................. 98 5.1.3 Control ................................................................................................... 98 5.2 Maneuvering Problem Statement .............................................................. 99 5.3 Guidance Objectives ................................................................................ 100 5.3.1 Target Tracking ................................................................................... 100 5.3.2 Trajectory Tracking ............................................................................. 100 5.4 Waypoint Representation ........................................................................ 101 5.5 Path Following ......................................................................................... 102 5.6 Line of Sight (LOS) Waypoint Guidance ................................................ 102 5.6.1 Enclosure-Based Steering .................................................................... 104 5.6.2 Look-ahead Based Steering ................................................................. 105 5.6.3 LOS Control......................................................................................... 106 5.7 Cubic Polynomial for Path-Following ..................................................... 107 Chapter 6: Control Algorithm Design and Analysis ....................................... 110 6.1 Proportional Integral Differential (PID) Controller ................................ 110 6.1.1 General Theory .................................................................................... 110 6.1.2 Stability of General PID Controller ..................................................... 112 6.1.3 PID Tuning .......................................................................................... 114 6.1.4 Nonlinear PID for Marine Vehicles ..................................................... 116 6.1.5 Nonlinear PD for Marine Vehicles ...................................................... 117 6.1.6 Stability of Designed PD Controller .................................................... 117 6.2 Sliding Mode Controller .......................................................................... 118 6.2.1 Tracking Error and Sliding Surface ..................................................... 119 6.2.2 Chattering Situation ............................................................................. 120 6.2.3 Control Law and Stability .................................................................... 121 6.3 Allocation Control ................................................................................... 124 6.3.1 Linear Quadratic Unconstrained Control Allocation Using Lagrange Multipliers ................................................................................................ 125 6.3.2 Thruster Allocation with a Constrained Linear Model ........................ 127 6.4 Simulation Results and Discussion ......................................................... 131 6.4.1 Berthing (parking) Control of USV ..................................................... 133 6.4.2 Motion Control of UV ......................................................................... 136 Chapter 7: Obstacle Avoidance and Path Planning for Vehicle Using Rapidly-Exploring Random Trees Algorithm.................................................................. 168 7.1 Path Planning and Guidance: Two Interrelated Problems ....................... 168 7.2 RRT Algorithm for Exploration .............................................................. 171 7.2.1 Random Node Selection ...................................................................... 172 7.2.2 Nearest Neighbor Node Selection ....................................................... 173 7.2.3 RRT Exploration with Obstacles ......................................................... 174 7.3 RRT Algorithm for Navigation of AUV ................................................. 176 7.3.1 Basic RRT Algorithm .......................................................................... 176 7.3.2 Biased-Greedy RRT Algorithm ........................................................... 178 7.3.3 Synchronized Biased-Greedy RRT Algorithm .................................... 179 7.4 Path Pruning ............................................................................................ 182 7.4.1 Path Pruning Using LOS ..................................................................... 182 7.4.2 Global Path Pruning ............................................................................. 183 7.5 Summarize the Proposed RRT Algorithm ............................................... 185 7.6 Simulation for Path Following of AUV .................................................. 187 Chapter 8: Simulation of Complete USV-UC-UV Systems ............................ 196 8.1 Simulation Procedure .............................................................................. 196 8.2 Simulation Results and Discussion ......................................................... 201 8.2.1 Dynamic Behaviors of Complete USV (Stable)-Cable- AUV (Turning Motion) ..................................................................................................... 201 8.2.2 Dynamic Behaviors of Complete USV (Forward motion)-Cable- AUV (Turning Motion) ...................................................................................... 207 8.2.3 Applied Controller to Complete USV -Cable- AUV ........................... 215 Chapter 9: Conclusions and Future Works ..................................................... 238 9.1 Modeling of Complete USV-Cable-AUV System .................................. 238 9.2 Motion Control ........................................................................................ 239 9.3 Cable Force and Moment at the Tow Points ........................................... 239 9.4 Path Planning ........................................................................................... 239 9.5 Future Works ........................................................................................... 240Docto

Simulation and Control of Submarines

When designing control systems for real applications, it is important to first do testing in a simulated environment, to ensure adequate performance. This is especially important when designing control systems for applications that have high operation costs, e.g., submarines, since late errors in the development can be extremely costly. Saab develops steering systems for submarines. Prior to this thesis, testing for those have been performed in an open-loop environment, where only static test cases could be examined. Saab therefore identified the need to implement a dynamic test simulator, which could react to the different signals from the steering system, i.e., act as a real submarine. In this thesis, such a simulator was developed. It consists of two parts, a physical model of a submarine, and a control system for motion control. As for the physical submarine model, it can be approximated from mechanical data of a submarine that the user provide, such as dimensions and weight. The second options is for the user to explicitly supply the simulator with hydrodynamic coefficients. The control system was derived to control a model of a demo submarine. Saab is also involved in submarine navigation systems and saw the need to, in the future, also have the possibility to test those products. A navigation system assumes an autopilot exists, hence, an autopilot control system was developed. In the end, the control system consisted of a two-level cascade controller of mixed LQG- and PID-control, along with a Kalman estimator for estimating unknown states. The results were overall satisfactory. The performance of the control system is well within usual customer specifications and the main problems in this thesis lay in getting a proper model

Robust Course Keeping Control of a Fully Submerged Hydrofoil Vessel without Velocity Measurement: An Iterative Learning Approach

This paper proposes a novel robust output feedback control methodology for the course keeping control of a fully submerged hydrofoil vessel. Based on a sampled-data iterative learning strategy, an iterative learning observer is established for the estimation of system states and the generalized disturbances. With the state observer, a feedback linearized iterative sliding mode controller is designed for the stabilization of the lateral dynamics of the fully submerged hydrofoil vessel. The stability of the overall closed-loop system is analyzed based on Lyapunov stability theory. Comparative simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme and show the dominance of the disturbance rejection performance

Underwater Vehicles

For the latest twenty to thirty years, a significant number of AUVs has been created for the solving of wide spectrum of scientific and applied tasks of ocean development and research. For the short time period the AUVs have shown the efficiency at performance of complex search and inspection works and opened a number of new important applications. Initially the information about AUVs had mainly review-advertising character but now more attention is paid to practical achievements, problems and systems technologies. AUVs are losing their prototype status and have become a fully operational, reliable and effective tool and modern multi-purpose AUVs represent the new class of underwater robotic objects with inherent tasks and practical applications, particular features of technology, systems structure and functional properties

Passive low frequency RFID for non-destructive evaluation and monitoring

Ph. D ThesisDespite of immense research over the years, defect monitoring in harsh environmental conditions still presents notable challenges for Non-Destructive Testing and Evaluation (NDT&E) and Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). One of the substantial challenges is the inaccessibility to the metal surface due to the large stand-off distance caused by the insulation layer. The hidden nature of corrosion and defect under thick insulation in harsh environmental conditions may result in it being not noticed and ultimately leading to failures. Generally electromagnetic NDT&E techniques which are used in pipeline industries require the removal of the insulation layer or high powered expensive equipment. Along with these, other limitations in the existing techniques create opportunities for novel systems to solve the challenges caused by Corrosion under Insulation (CUI). Extending from Pulsed Eddy Current (PEC), this research proposes the development and use of passive Low Frequency (LF) RFID hardware system for the detection and monitoring of corrosion and cracks on both ferrous and non-ferrous materials at varying high temperature conditions. The passive, low cost essence of RFID makes it an enchanting technique for long term condition monitoring. The contribution of the research work can be summarised as follows: (1) implementation of novel LF RFID sensor systems and the rig platform, experimental studies validating the detection capabilities of corrosion progression samples using transient feature analysis with respect to permeability and electrical conductivity changes along with enhanced sensitivity demonstration using ferrite sheet attached to the tag; (2) defect detection using swept frequency method to study the multiple frequency behaviour and further temperature suppression using feature fusion technique; (3) inhomogeneity study on ferrous materials at varying temperature and demonstration of the potential of the RFID system; (4) use of RFID tag with ceramic filled Poly-tetra-fluoro-ethyulene (PTFE) substrate for larger applicability of the sensing system in the industry; (5) lift-off independent defect monitoring using passive sweep frequency RFID sensors and feature extraction and fusion for robustness improvement. This research concludes that passive LF RFID system can be used to detect corrosion and crack on both ferrous and non-ferrous materials and then the system can be used to compensate for temperature variation making it useful for a wider range of applications. However, significant challenges such as permanent deployment of the tags for long term monitoring at higher temperatures and much higher standoff distance, still require improvement for real-world applicability.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) CASE, National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL)

FIBER-TEX 1991: The Fifth Conference on Advanced Engineering Fibers and Textile Structures for Composites

This document is a compilation of papers presented at a joint NASA/North Carolina State University/DoD/Clemson University/Drexel University conference on Fibers, Textile Technology, and Composites Structures held at the College of Textiles Building on Centennial Campus of North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina on October 15-17, 1991. Conference papers presented information on advanced engineering fibers, textile processes and structures, structural fabric production, mechanics and characteristics of woven composites, pultruded composites, and the latest requirements for the use of textiles in the production of composite materials and structures

A new operability and predictability enhanced riser control system for deepwater marine operation: an integrated riser hybrid tensioning system

This dissertation presents a novel riser hybrid tensioning system by integrating an electrically powered riser tensioning system into existing hydro-pneumatic tensioners. Compared to current passive hydro-pneumatic tensioners, this new riser hybrid tensioning system provides the capability of dynamically controlling the tension in the riser string. This feature opens a wide horizon of different active riser control strategies to achieve the systematic riser control solution. The objective of this study is to increase the predictability and safety of the whole riser system, and to extend the operability of the riser tensioning system into other operations. An overall structure framework of this novel hybrid riser tensioning system is proposed, comprising a direct driven electrical tensioners, hydro-pneumatic tensioners, a super-capacitor based energy storage system, power dissipaters, an overall tension controller and a power management controller. Hardware configurations are suggested. A riser data logging system is introduced, providing more comprehensive riser status data. A power management control strategy and overall coordination architecture to integrate the whole system are proposed. As the main functionality of the riser tensioning system, a new active heave compensation control strategy is analyzed in detail, by using this new riser hybrid tensioning system. A LQG controller and a H [subscript infinity symbol] controller are designed. The position chasing technique produces predictive and accurate tension commands for the electrical tensioners. Both Matlab simulation and hardware implementation confirm the feasibility of this concept, and further verifies that a more accurate control performance could be achieved by the electrical tensioners 180° compensating the tension fluctuation caused by the hydro-pneumatic tensioners. A novel testability and predictability enhanced anti-recoil control algorithm is implemented in the electrical tensioners. A position control strategy is proposed with the objective of moving the riser body to a desired elevation height in a predictive manner. A system model and a Kalman estimator are built, and a LQG controller is designed. The simulation demonstrates that the riser lifting height can adjust to any reasonable value for different test environment. This anti-recoil control concept reduces the risk of catastrophic damage, and allows us to perform maintenance tests much more frequently to bring back operator’s confidence. During harsh sea state, the VIV can be suppressed by using the dynamic control of the hybrid tensioning system, at frequencies and magnitudes made available by the electrical tensioning system. The objective is to achieve the VIV suppression by avoiding the excitation of the oscillation locking into the resonance conditions, and by reducing oscillation energy to be built in riser. A modal analysis of a tensioned Euler-Bernoulli beam is studied. Two control methods are proposed. Simulations results demonstrate that the oscillation is effectively reduced at the dominant lock-in frequency. Finally, this riser hybrid tensioning system opens the possibility to extend the tensioning system operability into other drilling operations. A motion stabilizer supporting the heave compensation of the drill pipes and the DST tools can be eliminated by connecting the drill pipes onto the telescopic joint. Another application would be that the electrical tensioners can run under position control mode after the riser is recoiled and soft hang-off on tensioners. The riser string position with respect to the seabed can still be controlled, during the vessel moving among different well heads.Electrical and Computer Engineerin