Intelligent Marine Robotics Modelling, Simulation and Applications

A special issue of Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (ISSN 2077-1312).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 October 2019) | Viewed by 49406

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Special Issue Editors

Intelligent Systems Design, Newcastle University, Singapore 038986, Singapore
Interests: intelligent systems design of complex systems in uncertain environments (underwater/electric vehicle, battery, PV system, acoustic enclosure, and water distribution network) involving predictive analytics (data mining, predictive modeling, and machine learning)
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
School of Marine Science and Technology, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China
Interests: underwater vehicles; nonlinear control; path planning
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Marine robots are commonly used to carry out several tasks in deeper and riskier areas where divers are not possible. However, there are numbers of challenges in operating them precisely; unpredictable disturbances such as the sea current and wave during actual operation and uncertain dynamic model for designing a typical guidance, navigation, and control system. To circumvent these challenges, the robots have to be intelligent in the sense of having conscious thought to allow them to make decisions that impact their performance and actions. There are many successful applications of artificial intelligent algorithms such as genetic algorithms, neural networks, and fuzzy logic has been proposed for environment exploration, surveillance missions, and collaborative operations. In addition, the implementation of these robots is still facing numerous challenges such as uncertainties in the operating environment, in the field of control systems design, human-robot interaction, fast computational time, robust communication network and rapid implementation with ease of future maintenance in mind.

The aim of this Special Issue should contain recent findings in the field of intelligent robots. Relevant technologies enhancing prototyping, simulation, dexterity, and user experience are also desired. Researchers involved in the marine robotics should find this particular issue extraordinary and provide the latest perspectives on the state-of-the-art.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to) the following areas:

  • Kinematics, dynamics, and structure design
  • Image-based and signal-based processing
  • Fault identification and detection
  • Signal processing and pattern recognition
  • Communication systems
  • Human–robot interaction
  • Object obstacle avoidance
  • Multi-sensor fusion for control/feedback
  • Intelligent control and automation systems
  • Swarm intelligence and evolutionary algorithms
  • Artificial neural networks
Prof. Dr. Cheng Siong Chin
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • kinematics
  • dynamics
  • identification
  • communication
  • sensors fusion
  • intelligent control
  • automation systems
  • machine learning methods

Published Papers (13 papers)

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Editorial

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2 pages, 156 KiB  
Editorial
Intelligent Marine Robotics Modelling, Simulation and Applications
by Cheng Siong Chin and Rongxin Cui
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2020, 8(6), 383; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse8060383 - 27 May 2020
Viewed by 1769
Abstract
Creating this inaugural Special Issue on Intelligent Marine Robotics Modelling, Simulation, and Applications is important due to the rapid technological advancement and the aim to reduce human involvement via artificial intelligence [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Marine Robotics Modelling, Simulation and Applications)
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Research

Jump to: Editorial

18 pages, 2652 KiB  
Article
Sliding Mode Control in Backstepping Framework for a Class of Nonlinear Systems
by He Shen, Joseph Iorio and Ni Li
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2019, 7(12), 452; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse7120452 - 09 Dec 2019
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3916
Abstract
Both backstepping control (BC) and sliding mode control (SMC) have been studied extensively over the past few decades, and many variations of controller designs based on them can be found in the literature. In this paper, sliding mode control in a backstepping framework [...] Read more.
Both backstepping control (BC) and sliding mode control (SMC) have been studied extensively over the past few decades, and many variations of controller designs based on them can be found in the literature. In this paper, sliding mode control in a backstepping framework (SBC) for a class of nonlinear systems is proposed and its connections to SMC studied. SMC is shown to be a special case of SBC. Without losing generality, the regulation control problem is studied, while tracking control is achieved by replacing the states with the difference between the states and their desired values. The SBCs are designed for nonlinear single-input-single-output (SISO) and multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) systems with the presence of bounded uncertainties from unmodeled dynamics, parametric variations, disturbances, and measurement noise, and the closed loop systems are proven to be asymptotically stable using the Lyapunov stability theory. The comparison of SBC to SMC from the design process, chattering effects, and chatter reduction are also discussed. SBC inherits the merits of backstepping control in choosing gains independently, while leveraging useful nonlinear dynamics for controller design simplification. Hence, it provides more flexibility in controller design in the sense of controlling coverage speed and making use of useful nonlinearities in the dynamics. To demonstrate the effectiveness of SBC, an application on cruise tracking control of an autonomous underwater vehicle was studied. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Marine Robotics Modelling, Simulation and Applications)
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22 pages, 4171 KiB  
Article
System Modeling and Simulation of an Unmanned Aerial Underwater Vehicle
by Yuqing Chen, Yaowen Liu, Yangrui Meng, Shuanghe Yu and Yan Zhuang
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2019, 7(12), 444; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse7120444 - 04 Dec 2019
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 3801
Abstract
Unmanned Aerial Underwater Vehicles (UAUVs) with multiple propellers can operate in two distinct mediums, air and underwater, and the system modeling of the autonomous vehicles is a key issue to adapt to these different external environments. In this paper, only a single set [...] Read more.
Unmanned Aerial Underwater Vehicles (UAUVs) with multiple propellers can operate in two distinct mediums, air and underwater, and the system modeling of the autonomous vehicles is a key issue to adapt to these different external environments. In this paper, only a single set of aerial rotors with switching propulsion abilities are designed as driving components, and then a compound multi-model method is investigated to achieve good performance of the cross-medium motion. Furthermore, some additional variables, such as water resistance, buoyancy and their corresponding moments are considered for the underwater case. In particular, a critical coefficient for air-to-water switching is presented to express these gradually changing additional variables in the cross-medium motion process. Finally, the sliding mode control method is used to reduce the altitude error and attitude error of the vehicles with external environmental disturbances. The proposed scheme is tested and the model is verified on the simulation platform. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Marine Robotics Modelling, Simulation and Applications)
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12 pages, 1947 KiB  
Article
A Novel Obstacle Localization Method for an Underwater Robot Based on the Flow Field
by Xinghua Lin, Jianguo Wu and Qing Qin
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2019, 7(12), 437; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse7120437 - 29 Nov 2019
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1990
Abstract
Because the underwater environment is complex, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) have difficulty locating their surroundings autonomously. In order to improve the adaptive ability of AUVs, this paper presents a novel obstacle localization strategy based on the flow features. Like fish, the strategy uses [...] Read more.
Because the underwater environment is complex, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) have difficulty locating their surroundings autonomously. In order to improve the adaptive ability of AUVs, this paper presents a novel obstacle localization strategy based on the flow features. Like fish, the strategy uses the flow field information directly to locate the object obstacles. Two different localization methods are provided and compared. The first method, which is named the Method of Spatial Distribution (MSD), is based on the spatial distribution of the flow field. The second method, which is named the Method of Amplitude Variation (MAV), is provided by the amplitude variation of the flow field. The flow field around spherical targets is obtained by a numerical method, and both methods use the parallel velocity component on the virtual lateral line. During the study, different target numbers, detective ratios, spacing ratios, and flow velocities are taken into account. It is demonstrated that both methods are able to locate object obstacles. However, the prediction accuracy of MAV is higher than that of MSD. That implies that MAV is more robust than MSD. These new findings indicate that the object obstacles can be directly located based on the flow field information and robust flow sensing is perhaps not based on the spatial distribution of the flow field but rather, on its fluctuation range. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Marine Robotics Modelling, Simulation and Applications)
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16 pages, 3712 KiB  
Article
Extracting Typhoon Disaster Information from VGI Based on Machine Learning
by Jiang Yu, Qiansheng Zhao and Cheng Siong Chin
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2019, 7(9), 318; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse7090318 - 12 Sep 2019
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2697
Abstract
The southeastern coast of China suffers many typhoon disasters every year, causing huge casualties and economic losses. In addition, collecting statistics on typhoon disaster situations is hard work for the government. At the same time, near-real-time disaster-related information can be obtained on developed [...] Read more.
The southeastern coast of China suffers many typhoon disasters every year, causing huge casualties and economic losses. In addition, collecting statistics on typhoon disaster situations is hard work for the government. At the same time, near-real-time disaster-related information can be obtained on developed social media platforms like Twitter and Weibo. Many cases have proved that citizens are able to organize themselves promptly on the spot, and begin to share disaster information when a disaster strikes, producing massive VGI (volunteered geographic information) about the disaster situation, which could be valuable for disaster response if this VGI could be exploited efficiently and properly. However, this social media information has features such as large quantity, high noise, and unofficial modes of expression that make it difficult to obtain useful information. In order to solve this problem, we first designed a new classification system based on the characteristics of social medial data like Sina Weibo data, and made a microblogging dataset of typhoon damage with according category labels. Secondly, we used this social medial dataset to train the deep learning model, and constructed a typhoon disaster mining model based on a deep learning network, which could automatically extract information about the disaster situation. The model is different from the general classification system in that it automatically selected microblogs related to disasters from a large number of microblog data, and further subdivided them into different types of disasters to facilitate subsequent emergency response and loss estimation. The advantages of the model included a wide application range, high reliability, strong pertinence and fast speed. The research results of this thesis provide a new approach to typhoon disaster assessment in the southeastern coastal areas of China, and provide the necessary information for the authoritative information acquisition channel. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Marine Robotics Modelling, Simulation and Applications)
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16 pages, 4973 KiB  
Article
Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) of 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wireless Local Area Network Systems Projected over Land and Sea for Near-Shore Maritime Robot Operations
by Brennan Yamamoto, Allison Wong, Peter Joseph Agcanas, Kai Jones, Dominic Gaspar, Raymond Andrade and A Zachary Trimble
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2019, 7(9), 290; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse7090290 - 27 Aug 2019
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 4869
Abstract
The effect of the maritime environment on radio frequency (RF) propagation is not well understood. In this work, we study the propagation of ad hoc 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz wireless local area network systems typically used for near-shore operation of unmanned surface [...] Read more.
The effect of the maritime environment on radio frequency (RF) propagation is not well understood. In this work, we study the propagation of ad hoc 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz wireless local area network systems typically used for near-shore operation of unmanned surface vehicles. In previous work, maritime RF propagation performance is evaluated by collecting RSSI data over water and comparing it against existing propagation models. However, the multivariate effect of the maritime environment on RF propagation means that these single-domain studies cannot distinguish between factors unique to the maritime environment and factors that exist in typical terrestrial RF systems. In this work, we isolate the effect of the maritime environment by collecting RSSI data over land and over seawater at two different frequencies and two different ground station antenna heights with the same physical system in essentially the same location. Results show that our 2.4 GHz, 2 m antenna height system received a 2 to 3 dBm path loss when transitioning from over-land to over-seawater (equivalent to a 25 to 40% reduction in range); but increasing the frequency and antenna height to 5 GHz, 5 m respectively resulted in no meaningful path loss under the same conditions; this reduction in path loss by varying frequency and antenna height has not been demonstrated in previous work. In addition, we studied the change in ground reflectivity coefficient, R , when transitioning from over-land to over-seawater. Results show that R remained relatively constant, −0.49 ≤ R ≤ −0.45, for all of the over-land experiments; however, R demonstrated a frequency dependence during the over-seawater experiments, ranging from −0.39 ≤ R ≤ −0.33 at 2.4 GHz, and −0.51 ≤ R ≤ −0.50 at 5 GHz. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Marine Robotics Modelling, Simulation and Applications)
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11 pages, 2182 KiB  
Article
Modeling Analysis and Simulation of Viscous Hydrodynamic Model of Single-DOF Manipulator
by Minglu Zhang, Xiaoyu Liu and Ying Tian
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2019, 7(8), 261; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse7080261 - 09 Aug 2019
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2772
Abstract
Hydrodynamic modeling is the basis of the precise control research of underwater manipulators. Viscous hydrodynamics, an important part of the hydrodynamic model, directly affects the accuracy of the dynamic model and the control model of the manipulator. Considering the limited research on viscous [...] Read more.
Hydrodynamic modeling is the basis of the precise control research of underwater manipulators. Viscous hydrodynamics, an important part of the hydrodynamic model, directly affects the accuracy of the dynamic model and the control model of the manipulator. Considering the limited research on viscous hydrodynamics of underwater manipulators and the difficulty in measuring viscous hydrodynamic coefficients, the viscous hydrodynamic model in the form of Taylor expansion is analyzed and established. Through carrying out simulation calculations, curve fitting and regression analysis, positional derivatives, rotational derivatives, and coupling derivatives in the viscous hydrodynamic model, are determined. This model provides a crucial theoretical foundation and reference data for subsequent related research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Marine Robotics Modelling, Simulation and Applications)
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19 pages, 7713 KiB  
Article
Second Path Planning for Unmanned Surface Vehicle Considering the Constraint of Motion Performance
by Jiajia Fan, Ye Li, Yulei Liao, Wen Jiang, Leifeng Wang, Qi Jia and Haowei Wu
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2019, 7(4), 104; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse7040104 - 17 Apr 2019
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 3374
Abstract
When utilizing the traditional path planning method for unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), ‘planning-failure’ is a common phenomenon caused by the inflection points of large curvatures in the planned path, which exceed the performances of USVs. This paper presents a second path planning method [...] Read more.
When utilizing the traditional path planning method for unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), ‘planning-failure’ is a common phenomenon caused by the inflection points of large curvatures in the planned path, which exceed the performances of USVs. This paper presents a second path planning method (SPP), which is an initial planning path optimization method based on the geometric relationship of the three-point path. First, to describe the motion performance of a USV in conjunction with the limited test data, a method of integral nonlinear least squares identification is proposed to rapidly obtain the motion constraint of the USV merely by employing a zig zag test. It is different from maneuverability identification, which is performed in combination with various tests. Second, the curvature of the planned path is limited according to the motion performance of the USV based on the traditional path planning, and SPP is proposed to make the maximum curvature radius of the optimized path smaller than the rotation curvature radius of the USV. Finally, based on the ‘Dolphin 1’ prototype USV, comparative simulation experiments were carried out. In the experiment, the path directly obtained by the initial path planning and the path optimized by the SPP method were considered as the tracking target path. The artificial potential field method was used as an example for the initial path planning. The experimental results demonstrate that the tracking accuracy of the USV significantly improved after the path optimization using the SPP method. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Marine Robotics Modelling, Simulation and Applications)
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18 pages, 1801 KiB  
Article
UUV Simulation Modeling and its Control Method: Simulation and Experimental Studies
by Ji-Hong Li, Min-Gyu Kim, Hyungjoo Kang, Mun-Jik Lee and Gun Rae Cho
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2019, 7(4), 89; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse7040089 - 28 Mar 2019
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3261
Abstract
This paper presents the development of an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) platform, especially the derivation of the vehicle’s simulation model and its control method to overcome strong sea current. The platform is designed to have a flattened ellipsoidal exterior so as to minimize [...] Read more.
This paper presents the development of an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) platform, especially the derivation of the vehicle’s simulation model and its control method to overcome strong sea current. The platform is designed to have a flattened ellipsoidal exterior so as to minimize the hydrodynamic damping on the horizontal plane. Four horizontal thrusters with the identical specifications are symmetrically mounted on the horizontal plane, and each of them has the same thrust dynamics in both forward and reverse directions. In addition, there are three vertical thrusters used to handle the vehicle’s roll, pitch and heave motions. Control strategy proposed in this paper to overcome strong current is that: maximizing the vectored horizontal thrust force against the sea current without or with the least of the vehicle’s rotation on the horizontal plane. For the vehicle model, due to it being symmetric in all of three axes, the vehicle dynamics can be simplified and all of hydrodynamic coefficients are calculated through both of theoretical and empirically-derived formulas. Numerical simulations and experimental studies in both of the water tank and the circulating water channel are carried out to demonstrate the vehicle’s capability of overcoming strong current. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Marine Robotics Modelling, Simulation and Applications)
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26 pages, 10742 KiB  
Article
Autonomous Minimum Safe Distance Maintenance from Submersed Obstacles in Ocean Currents
by Timothy Sands, Kevin Bollino, Isaac Kaminer and Anthony Healey
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2018, 6(3), 98; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse6030098 - 22 Aug 2018
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3971
Abstract
A considerable volume of research has recently blossomed in the literature on autonomous underwater vehicles accepting recent developments in mathematical modeling and system identification; pitch control; information filtering and active sensing, including inductive sensors of ELF emissions and also optical sensor arrays for [...] Read more.
A considerable volume of research has recently blossomed in the literature on autonomous underwater vehicles accepting recent developments in mathematical modeling and system identification; pitch control; information filtering and active sensing, including inductive sensors of ELF emissions and also optical sensor arrays for position, velocity, and orientation detection; grid navigation algorithms; and dynamic obstacle avoidance, amongst others. In light of these modern developments, this article develops and compares integrative guidance, navigation, and control methodologies for the Naval Postgraduate School’s Phoenix submerged autonomous vehicle, where these methods are assumed available. The measure of merit reveals how well each of several proposed methodologies cope with known and unknown disturbances, such as currents that can be constant or harmonic, while maintaining a safe passage distance from underwater obstacles, in this case submerged mines. Classical pole-placement designs establish nominal baseline behaviors and are subsequently compared to performance of designs that are optimized to satisfy linear quadratic cost functions in regulators as well as linear-quadratic Gaussian designs. Feed-forward architectures and integral control designs are also evaluated. A noteworthy contribution is a very simple method to mimic optimal results with a “rule of thumb” criteria based on the design’s time constant. Since the rule-of-thumb method uses the assumed system model for computation of the control, it is particularly generic. Cited references each contain methods for online system parameter identification (with a motivation of use in the finding the control signal), permitting the rule of thumb’s generic applicability, since it is expressed in terms of the system parameters. This proposed method permits control design at sea where significant computation abilities are not available. Very simple waypoint guidance is also introduced to guide a vehicle along a preplanned path through a field of obstacles placed at random locations. The linear-quadratic Gaussian design proves best when augmented with integral control, and works well with reduced-order equations, while the “rule of thumb” design is seen to closely mimic the optimal performance. Feed-forward augmentation proves particularly efficient at rejecting constant disturbances, while augmentation with integral control is necessary to counter periodic disturbances, where the augmentations are also optimized in the linear-quadratic Gaussian procedures, yet can be closely mimicked by the proposed “rule of thumb” technique. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Marine Robotics Modelling, Simulation and Applications)
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23 pages, 1813 KiB  
Article
Coupled and Decoupled Force/Motion Controllers for an Underwater Vehicle-Manipulator System
by Corina Barbalata, Matthew W. Dunnigan and Yvan Petillot
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2018, 6(3), 96; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse6030096 - 21 Aug 2018
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 4496
Abstract
Autonomous interaction with the underwater environment has increased the interest of scientists in the study of control structures for lightweight underwater vehicle-manipulator systems. This paper presents an essential comparison between two different strategies of designing control laws for a lightweight underwater vehicle-manipulator system. [...] Read more.
Autonomous interaction with the underwater environment has increased the interest of scientists in the study of control structures for lightweight underwater vehicle-manipulator systems. This paper presents an essential comparison between two different strategies of designing control laws for a lightweight underwater vehicle-manipulator system. The first strategy aims to separately control the vehicle and the manipulator and hereafter is referred to as the decoupled approach. The second method, the coupled approach, proposes to control the system at the operational space level, treating the lightweight underwater vehicle-manipulator system as a single system. Both strategies use a parallel position/force control structure with sliding mode controllers and incorporate the mathematical model of the system. It is demonstrated that both methods are able to handle this highly non-linear system and compensate for the coupling effects between the vehicle and the manipulator. The results demonstrate the validity of the two different control strategies when the goal is located at various positions, as well as the reliable behaviour of the system when different environment stiffnesses are considered. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Marine Robotics Modelling, Simulation and Applications)
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19 pages, 5210 KiB  
Article
A Novel Gesture-Based Language for Underwater Human–Robot Interaction
by Davide Chiarella, Marco Bibuli, Gabriele Bruzzone, Massimo Caccia, Andrea Ranieri, Enrica Zereik, Lucia Marconi and Paola Cutugno
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2018, 6(3), 91; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse6030091 - 01 Aug 2018
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 4985
Abstract
The underwater environment is characterized by hazardous conditions that make it difficult to manage and monitor even the simplest human operation. The introduction of a robot companion with the task of supporting and monitoring the divers during their activities and operations underwater can [...] Read more.
The underwater environment is characterized by hazardous conditions that make it difficult to manage and monitor even the simplest human operation. The introduction of a robot companion with the task of supporting and monitoring the divers during their activities and operations underwater can help to solve some of the problems that usually arise in this scenario. In this context, a proper communication between the diver and the robot is imperative for the success of the dive. However, the underwater environment poses a set of technical challenges which are not readily surmountable thus limiting the spectrum from which possibilities can be chosen. This paper presents the design and development of a gesture-based communication language which has been employed for the entire duration of the European project CADDY (Cognitive Autonomous Diving Buddy). This language, the Caddian, was built upon consolidated and standardized underwater gestures that are commonly used in recreational and professional diving. Its use and integration during field tests with a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) is also shown. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Marine Robotics Modelling, Simulation and Applications)
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30 pages, 48254 KiB  
Article
Fault-Tolerant Control for ROVs Using Control Reallocation and Power Isolation
by Romano Capocci, Edin Omerdic, Gerard Dooly and Daniel Toal
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2018, 6(2), 40; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse6020040 - 12 Apr 2018
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 5876
Abstract
This paper describes a novel thruster fault-tolerant control system (FTC) for open-frame remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). The proposed FTC consists of two subsystems: a model-free thruster fault detection and isolation subsystem (FDI) and a fault accommodation subsystem (FA). The FDI subsystem employs fault [...] Read more.
This paper describes a novel thruster fault-tolerant control system (FTC) for open-frame remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). The proposed FTC consists of two subsystems: a model-free thruster fault detection and isolation subsystem (FDI) and a fault accommodation subsystem (FA). The FDI subsystem employs fault detection units (FDUs), associated with each thruster, to monitor their state. The robust, reliable and adaptive FDUs use a model-free pattern recognition neural network (PRNN) to detect internal and external faulty states of the thrusters in real time. The FA subsystem combines information provided by the FDI subsystem with predefined, user-configurable actions to accommodate partial and total faults and to perform an appropriate control reallocation. Software-level actions include penalisation of faulty thrusters in solution of control allocation problem and reallocation of control energy among the operable thrusters. Hardware-level actions include power isolation of faulty thrusters (total faults only) such that the entire ROV power system is not compromised. The proposed FTC system is implemented as a LabVIEW virtual instrument (VI) and evaluated in virtual (simulated) and real-world environments. The proposed FTC module can be used for open frame ROVs with up to 12 thrusters: eight horizontal thrusters configured in two horizontal layers of four thrusters each, and four vertical thrusters configured in one vertical layer. Results from both environments show that the ROV control system, enhanced with the FDI and FA subsystems, is capable of maintaining full 6 DOF control of the ROV in the presence of up to 6 simultaneous total faults in the thrusters. With the FDI and FA subsystems in place the control energy distribution of the healthy thrusters is optimised so that the ROV can still operate in difficult conditions under fault scenarios. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Marine Robotics Modelling, Simulation and Applications)
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