Development of Autonomous Underwater Vehicle for Investigation of Marine Environment

一种既能作为巡航型又能作为精确自动位置控制型的水下机器人将是海洋测量的最有利条件。但由于两种航行器所要求的水动力特性和控制方法有很大的不同，使得AUV很难同时具备这两种功能。为这项研究开发了一个四分之一大小的模型车，名为“潜水甲虫”。主要尺寸为：长：1.2米，宽：0.7米，高：0.24米，空中重量：40公斤。该飞行器有6个推进器和2个水平尾翼来控制运动。该机器人仅用于海洋工程水池（L：65 m，B：5 m，D：7 m）的运动控制研究。如果车辆和个人计算机之间的通信可以在真实的时间，我们可以设置在实验室的坦克牵引车厢的PC。该系统可以减小车辆的体积、重量和电池功率。此外，在这个系统中，改变PC系统将非常容易（PC每天都在发展）。“潜水甲虫”通过模型飞机的数字比例无线电控制系统与PC机通信，在海洋工程水池中进行了潜水器水动力系数的测量实验，并建立了运动方程。利用该方程进行控制器的设计和运动仿真，研究了基于模型的控制器、增益调度控制器和神经网络控制器对机器人运动的控制。

An AUV which could be operated both as a cruising type and an exact automatic position control type vehicle would be most advantageous for ocean measurement. But it is difficult for an AUV to have both these functions, because the hydrodynamic characteristics and control method required for the two types of vehicle differ greatly. A quarter size model vehicle named "Diving Beetle" was developed for this study. The principal dimensions are; length:1.2m, width:0.7m, height :0.24m, weight in air:40kg. The vehicle has 6 thrusters and 2 horizontal tail wings to control the motion. The vehicle is used only in the ocean engineering tank (L:65m, B:5m, D:7m) to study motion control. If communication between the vehicle and a personal computer were possible in real time, we could set the PC in the laboratory on the towing carriage of the tank. This system could reduce the volume, weight and battery power of the vehicle. Moreover, in this system, it would be very easy to change the PC system (PCs are evolving daily.). "Diving Beetle" communicates with the PC using a digital proportional radio control system of a model aircraft.The experiments to measure the hydrodynamic coefficients of the vehicle were carried out in the ocean engineering tank, and the equation of motion was constructed. This equation was used for the design of the controller and motion simulation.The model based controller, gain scheduled controller and neural Network controller were studied to control the motion of the vehicle.