Orientador: Prof. Dr. Marat Rafikov / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do ABC, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Mecânica, 2016. / O objetivo desta dissertação é o controle de trajetória e navegação de um robô móvel autônomo subaquático. O robô abordado nesta dissertação faz parte de uma nova classe de AUV¿s (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles) chamados de planadores subaquáticos. Os planadores subaquáticos se destacam por substituírem os propulsores por um mecanismo de translação e rotação de massas internas e variação de flutuabilidade, para se locomoverem. Essa nova classe de veículos visa superar o problema de autonomia, encontrado em outros tipos de AUV¿s, devido à limitada duração das baterias. O controle de posicionamento é realizado através da linearização do modelo não ¿linear e aplicada a estratégia de controle ótimo conhecida por LQR (Regulador Linear Quadrático). Essa estratégia é aplicada ao problema de regulação do robô a uma referência e a eficácia do método de controle do robô é verificada através de simulações numéricas. Nas simulações verificou ¿ se que o controle LQR foi capaz de fazer com que o veículo convergisse para a trajetória de referência desejada, demonstrando assim que a aplicação de um controlador linear para o modelo não ¿ linear do veículo é uma opção de aplicação em missões reais. / Within the structures optimization study area, one of the extensively explored methods is the TO objetivo desta dissertação é o controle de trajetória e navegação de um robô móvel autônomo subaquático. O robô abordado nesta dissertação faz parte de uma nova classe de AUV¿s (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles) chamados de planadores subaquáticos. Os planadores subaquáticos se destacam por substituírem os propulsores por um mecanismo de translação e rotação de massas internas e variação de flutuabilidade, para se locomoverem. Essa nova classe de veículos visa superar o problema de autonomia, encontrado em outros tipos de AUV¿s, devido à limitada duração das baterias. O controle de posicionamento é realizado através da linearização do modelo não ¿linear e aplicada a estratégia de controle ótimo conhecida por LQR (Regulador Linear Quadrático). Essa estratégia é aplicada ao problema de regulação do robô a uma referência e a eficácia do método de controle do robô é verificada através de simulações numéricas. Nas simulações verificou ¿ se que o controle LQR foi capaz de fazer com que o veículo convergisse para a trajetória de referência desejada, demonstrando assim que a aplicação de um controlador linear para o modelo não ¿ linear do veículo é uma opção de aplicação em missões reais.

Climate change is the focus of many oceanography and marine engineering researchers, with possible links between climate change and the carbon cycle in the Southern Ocean being considered. This type of investigation requires modern and cost-effective tools to conduct surveys and collect data from the ocean. The self-propelled unmanned surface vessel, the Liquid Robotics Wave Glider, was designed primarily as a marine research tool and offers several advantages over existing research vessels and other tools employed for data acquisition in the ocean. The main advantages are its robustness at sea, i.e. its ability to withstand extreme weather conditions, its propulsion energy source, which is the wave energy, and its customisable electronics payload. The inter-platform communication strategy of the Wave Glider inspired a few engineering questions, one of which is the focal point of this research: whether Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technology can be used to set up a local communication system enabling the collaboration of two or more Wave Gliders and reduce the cost, in terms of power and communication channels, involved in the communication with the Wave Glider platforms during missions. This research considers various LPWAN technologies available on the market and proposes LoRaWAN technology for the local communication system. LoRaWAN was selected as it presented a robust radio modulation and had growing support in the industry. In this research, a LoRa-based network of two nodes was developed, implemented and tested over the surface of the ocean. It was found that the system performs well over a distance of 1 km with both antennas having one end at the mean surface level of the sea. With the intention to increase the range of the platform and achieve a reliable and robust system, the research continued with the study of the influence of the surface waves on the proposed local communication system by exploring, firstly, the impact of seawater and, secondly, the wave height on signal transmission. The first study investigated the influence that the electromagnetic properties of seawater may have on the transmission of signals from one node to the second through simulations using the computational electromagnetic package FEKO. It revealed that, at the frequency of operation, which was 868 MHz, seawater reacted as a lossy conductor and reflected the signal upward, with negligible power penetrating the surface of the ocean. The subsequent study reviewed the statistical properties of the ocean surface waves in a sea of deep waters and proposed a relationship between the wind speed (or surface wave elevation), the antenna height, the distance separation between the two nodes and the probability of the presence of a line of sight (LoS) between the two nodes. This relationship quantifies the expected result that the probability of the LoS diminishes as the wind speed or the distance between the two nodes increases, whereas it improves with an increase in the antenna height. The last part of the research focused on initial works on sea state estimation using the lossless wave equation and Kalman Filter to provide 3D sea surface elevations that would be used to change to the probability of the LoS calculated previously in the research. Indeed, using the local communication to share the point-wise sea state data can be exploited to estimate the sea state over a rectangular region delimited to include these points. Sea state estimation is expected to enhance the joint navigation and coordination of the platforms and consequently, boost the probability of the LoS through the transmission at the crest of the waves. During the development of the Kalman Filter model, it was discovered that the sample time and the sample space significantly affect the performance and the stability of the discretised models. However, a carefully selected sampling time and sample space exhibited a stable system model. The results of the Kalman filtering were a realistic sea state estimate with a minimum error at the locations in the surrounding of the measurements.

This master thesis shows, how can be the modified lifting line theory used for preliminary glider design an for wing loads determination. It is shown, that relatively accurate results can be obtained at less computational cost in comparison with CFD methods

This diploma thesis describes the design of winglets for LS-3 glider. The method for determination of main winglet parameters based on selected criterion is presented as well as comparation of performace of original wing and final modification. It also includes analysis of wing loading and resetting of speed and weight limits for flying with winglets.

The objective of this work is to adopt and further expand the type design of the SONG motor glider. The study will result in the basic aerodynamic calculation and the design of lateral control system including structural strength inspection of selected parts. Subsequently, the proposal will allow for further calculation to be made (of flight mechanics, wings strength or fuselage and empennage firmness) and for more specific constructional design of individual components of the glider.

Nowadays underwater gliders have become to play a vital role in ocean exploration and allow to obtain the valuable information about underwater environment. The traditional approach to the development of such vehicles requires a thorough design of each subsystem and conducting a number of expensive full scale tests for validation the accuracy of connections between these subsystems. However, present requirements to cost-effective development of underwater vehicles need the development of a reliable sampling and testing platform that allows the conducting a preliminary design of components and systems (hardware and software) of the vehicle, its simulation and finally testing and verification of missions. This paper describes the development of the HIL test bench for underwater applications. Paper discuses some advantages of HIL methodology provides a brief overview of buoyancy variation systems. In this paper we focused on hydraulic part of the developed test bench and its architecture, environment and tools. Some obtained results of several buoyancy variation systems testing are described in this paper. These results have allowed us to estimate the most efficient design of the buoyancy variation system. The main contribution of this work is to present a powerful tool for engineers to find hidden errors in underwater gliders development process and to improve the integration between glider’s subsystems by gaining insights into their operation and dynamics.

ROBEX is a unique research project combining Airbus Defence and Space’s robotics expertise with deep-sea exploration technology to discover more about the most extreme environments environments known to man. As a part of this project, a deep-sea glider called MOTH, is under development with the objective to determine whether gliders can be used as a platform for bathymetric and electromagnetic soundings of the seafloor as well as for new water column research. This master’s thesis aims to design and implement the MOTH glider’s control system. The glider will have an independent emergency system, a power unit, an on-board computer (OBC), actuators, navigation sensors and scientific measurement instruments which can be swopped between missions and are connected via remote terminal units. The selected OBC is a Linux embedded Axotec GX-6300 with RS232 and CAN bus interfaces, as selected in the electrical architecture, and the chosen operative system is Linux Debian. The glider communicates with GNS/Iridium antenna and also has an ethernet cable link for ground station operations and a future option of an acoustic transceiver. To control actuation, the glider is equipped with a rudder, a left and a right wing flap, a moveable mass and a buoyancy tank. It travels in sawtooth patterns and is therefore always descending, ascending or transitioning during operation and at times ascending all the way to the surface to transmit and receive data via satellite communication. A model based feedback controller for longitudinal control has been programmed based on the equations of motion described in this report. The modelled longitudinal trajectory is as desired until a transition point is reached, the model is, presumable because of the uncertainty of the model parameters, unstable as the actuators are unable to correct the pitch angle. An AHRS navigation sensor emulator and an OBC emulator have been programmed to simulate the communication between these two and the emulated system is well operating both as a continuous stream and for polling data. The emulator and the pitch controller, when updated parameter values are available, will be used for simulation and verification tests in the laboratory environment. The ROBEX alliance will, if the objectives with the MOTH glider are met, continue to design gliders with the aim to increase the maximum duration time and speed in order to reach greater depths of the oceans.

The aim of this project was to design a flightcontrol system with the purpose of safely guiding a glidertoward a given GPS location over a distance of at least 50km. More specifically, the aim was to develop a control systemfor autonomous gliding and implement it on a given data hubcontaining sensors, GPS-module, microcontroller and a FieldProgrammable Gate Array (FPGA). A SIMULINK simulationenvironment has been developed for simulating flight dynamicsand the digital implementation of some of the on-board hardware.The simulation environment also serves as a platform to tunecontrollers and implement most of the necessary logic forthe control system. For the reference heading, a trigonometricformula is used along with latitude/longitude coordinates tocalculate the turn-angle necessary to travel along the shortestpath between two points. Four negative feedback control loopsare used to track the reference heading and achieve maximumglide ratio. The project has been conducted with mixed success,where the implementation part of the project has suffered greatdrawbacks mainly due to problems in developing the simulationenvironment. In spite of this, the open loop simulation outputspromising results where the glider behaves as expected and isconsidered realistic enough to be a suitable environment in whichto develop a flight control system. In addition, given that thegliders geometry offers reasonable aerodynamic stability, it isshown in this thesis that the proposed control system architectureand heading reference system is sufficient to steer the glider tothe given location under calm atmospheric conditions. / M°alet med detta projekt var att utveckla ettstyrsystem för att på ett säkert sätt styra ett segelflygplan mot engiven GPS-position över ett avstånd på minst 50 km. Mer specifiktvar målet att utveckla ett styrsystem för autonom glidningoch implementera det på en given datahubb som innehållersensorer, GPS-modul, mikrokontroller och programmerbar logik(FPGA). En SIMULINK-simuleringsmiljö har utvecklats föratt simulera flygdynamiken och för digital implementering avnågra av de givna hårdvarukomponenterna. Simuleringsmiljönagerar också som en plattform för att justera regulatorer ochimplementera det mesta av den nödvändiga logiken för styrsystemet.För referensriktning används en trigonometrisk formeltillsammans med latitud/longitud koordinater för att beräknaden sväng-vinkel som krävs för att färdas längs den kortastevägen mellan två punkter. Fyra regulatorer används till attfölja rätt kompassriktining samt maximera flygtid. Projektethar genomförts med blandad framgång, där genomförandet avprojektet har blivit lidande främst på grund av problem medatt utveckla simuleringsmiljön. Trots detta ger simulersmiljönlovande resultat där segelflygplanet beter sig som förväntat ochanses därmed vara en realistisk nog plattform för att utveckla ettkontrollsystem i. Dessutom, givet att geometrin av segelflygplanetger rimlig aerodynamisk stabilitet, framgår det i denna rapportatt den föreslagna styrsystemarkitekturen och referensriktningslogikenär tillräcklig för att styra segelflygplanet till den givnapositionen under lugna atmosfäriska förhållanden. / Kandidatexjobb i elektroteknik 2021, KTH, Stockholm

A long-baseline (LBL) underwater acoustic communication and localization system was developed for the Virginia Tech Underwater Glider (VTUG). Autonomous underwater vehicles, much like terrestrial and aerial robots require an effective positioning system, like GPS to perform a wide variety of guidance, navigation and control operations. Sea and freshwater attenuate electromagnetic waves (sea water is worse due to higher conductivity) within very few meters of striking the water surface. Since radio frequency communications are unavailable, many undersea systems use acoustic communications instead. Underwater acoustic communication is the technique of sending and receiving data below water. Underwater acoustic positioning is the technique of locating an underwater object. Among the various types of acoustic positioning systems, the LBL acoustic positioning method offers the highest accuracy for underwater vehicle navigation. A system consisting of three acoustic 'beacons which are placed on the surface of the water at known locations was developed. Using an acoustic modem to excite an acoustic transducer to send sound waves from an underwater glider, the range measurements to each of the beacons was calculated. These range measurements along with data from the attitude heading and reference system (AHRS) on board the glider were used to estimate the position of the underwater vehicle. Static and dynamic estimators were implemented. The system also allowed for underwater acoustic communication in the form of heartbeat messages from the glider, which were used to monitor the health of the vehicle. / Master of Science

Diplomová práce se zabývá aerodynamickou analýzou a optimalizací wingletu kluzáku. Winglet je uvažován s možností změny tvaru v průběhu letu a optimalizační proces je zaměřen na odhalení optimálních tvarů v odlišných letových režimech. První část práce popisuje současné snahy v oblasti návrhu a vývoje wingletů s měnitelnou geometrií. Druhá část je zaměřena na popis funkce wingletu, následována třetí částí, která popisuje optimalizační metody, které mohou být použity během optimalizace. Další částí práce je popis letadla vybaveného wingletem, který byl vybrán pro optimalizaci. Tato část je následována požadavky stavebního předpisu kategorie letadla, které bylo vybráno. Následuje model typického letu tohoto letadla. Zbytek práce je organizován dle procesu hledání optimálních tvarů wingletu. Popis tvorby CAD modelu je následován popisem tvorby CFD modelu a popisem přípravy CDF simulací. V předposlední kapitole jsou odhaleny detaily optimalizačního procesu. Závěrečná část práce obsahuje vyhodnocení výsledků optimalizačního procesu.