This research addresses the problem of allocating closely spaced targets to multiple autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) in the presence of constant ocean currents. The main difficulty of this problem is that the non-holonomic vehicles are constrained to move along forward paths with bounded curvatures. The Dubins model is a simple but effective way to handle the kinematic characteristics of AUVs. It gives complete characterization of the optimal paths between two configurations for a vehicle with limited turning radius moving in a plane at constant speed. In the proposed algorithm, Dubins paths are modified to include ocean currents, resulting in paths defined by curves whose radius of curvature is not constant. To determine the time required to follow such paths, an approximate dynamic model of the AUV is queried due to the computational complexity of the full model. The lower order model is built from data obtained from sampling the full model. The full model is used in evaluating the final tour times of the sequences generated by the proposed algorithm to validate the results. The proposed algorithm solves the task allocation problem with market-based auctions that minimize the total travel time to complete the mission. The novelty of the research is the path cost calculation that combines a Dubins model, an AUV dynamic model, and a model of the ocean current. Simulations were conducted in Matlab to illustrate the performance of the proposed algorithm using various number of task points and AUVs. The task points were generated randomly and uniformly close together to highlight the necessity for considering the curvature constraints. For a sufficiently dense set of points, it becomes clear that the ordering of the Euclidean tours are not optimal in the case of the Dubins multiple travelling salesmen problem. This is due to the fact that there is little relationship between the Euclidean and Dubins metrics, especially when the Euclidean distances are small with respect to the turning radius. An algorithm for the Euclidean problem will tend to schedule very close points in a successive order, which can imply long maneuvers for the AUV. This is clearly demonstrated by the numerous loops that become problematic with dense sets of points. The algorithm proposed in this thesis does not rely on the Euclidean solution and therefore, even in the presence of ocean currents, can create paths that are feasible for curvature bound vehicles. Field tests were also conducted on an Iver2 AUV at the Avila Pier in California to validate the performance of the proposed algorithm in real world environments. Missions created based on the sequences generated by the proposed algorithm were conducted to observe the ability of an AUV to follow paths of bounded curvature in the presence of ocean currents. Results show that the proposed algorithm generated paths that were feasible for an AUV to track closely, even in the presence of ocean current.

Hydrodynamic and thermal analyses performed during the conceptual design of an unmanned underwater vehicle are presented in this study. The hull shape is determined by considering alternative shapes and the dimensions are determined from the internal arrangement of components. Preliminary thermal analyses of the watertight section are performed with a commercial software called FLUENT to check the risk of over-heating due to the heat dissipation of devices. Performance of the proposed hull design is analyzed by FLUENT. Before simulations of the vehicle, validation studies are performed. Models 4159, 4158 and 4154 of Series 58 are chosen as the experimental reference. Their total resistance coefficients are compared with the results of the validations analyses. Mesh densities, turbulence models, near wall modeling approaches and inlet turbulence intensities are varied to understand their effects on the accuracy of predictions. A suitable turbulence modeling approach is chosen to analyze forward and vertical motions of the vehicle to check whether speed requirements are fulfilled. Hull configurations with and without appendages are used to observe their effects on total drag. It is observed that the proposed design satisfies speed requirements of the vehicle and no overheating is expected in the watertight section.

O emprego de técnicas de controle para veículos submarinos, envolve muitas questões de interesse prático e teórico. Neste trabalho apresenta-se o desenvolvimento de um sistema de controle inteligente e adaptativo a ser aplicado na navegação de veículos submarinos semi-autônomos (VSSAs). Utiliza-se uma técnica baseada no controle nebuloso (fuzzy), visando gerenciar o veículo submarino no controle de velocidade, profundidade, orientação e na evasão de obstáculos. A operação de veículos submarinos usando a técnica proposta, exige a definição, análise e tratamento de um vasto conjunto de comandos complexos manipulados pelo controlador. A metodologia utilizada divide a ação de controle em 3 fases. A primeira trata do posicionamento inicial do veículo submarino, a segunda fase trata da sua navegação e a fase final de gerenciar o comportamento do veículo próximo da posição-objetivo. A implementação funcional do controlador e dividida em módulos. O primeiro módulo informa o comportamento do ambiente e do próprio veículo, fornecendo dados iniciais sobre seu posicionamento e sua profundidade; um segundo módulo trata da presença de obstáculos em diferentes direções com dados fornecidos por sonares e assim determina as ações para a evasão de obstáculos. A ação de controle e estabelecida usando conceitos da teoria nebulosa (fuzzy) no universo de discurso, através de variáveis lingüísticas e de regras de inferência definidas a partir do conhecimento de especialistas, que envolvem a imprecisão característica do comportamento humano. As informações no final do processo são concentradas, de forma que a ação de controle e determinada para que possa enviar sinais de controle aos atuadores. / The design of underwater vehicle involves a very large number of practical and theoretical problems. In this work, it is tackled the development of a intelligent and adaptive controller, to be used in the navigation of semi-autonomous underwater vehicles (SAUV). To achieve this goal, a technique based on the fuzzy theory was employed to control the vehicle movements, including the evasion of obstacles. The operation of underwater vehicles using this approach demands the definition and treatment of a vast set of complex commands, manipulated by the controller. The control action is subdivided into three stages, the first one deals the control action during the initial positioning of the vehicle, a second stage deals with the navigation itself and the final stage deals the control action when the vehicle is close to the objective-position. The functional development of the controller was also subdivided into modules. The first module deals with the management of input data such as environmental disturbances and initial vehicle position, such as depth of the vehicle. The second module deals the detection of obstacles in different directions and the optimal evasion action to avoid collisions. The control action during a mission is established using concepts of the Fuzzy theory in the universe of speech, through linguistic variables and rules of inference defined from the knowledge of specialists, involving the characteristic imprecision of human behavior. In the end of the process, the information is defuzzificated, so that control actions are determined, allowing a practical implementation.

O desenvolvimento de arquiteturas de controle para veículos submarinos é uma tarefa complexa. Estas podem ser caracterizadas pelos seguintes atributos: tempo real, multitarefa, concorrência e comunicações distribuídas em rede. Neste cenário, existem múltiplos processos sendo executados em paralelo, possivelmente distribuídos, e se comunicando uns com os outros. Neste contexto, o modelo comportamental pode levar a fenômenos como deadlocks, livelocks, disputa por recursos, entre outros. A fim de se tentar minimizar os efeitos de tais dificuldades, neste trabalho será apresentado um método para checagem de modelos de arquiteturas de controle de veículos submarinos baseado em Especificações Formais. A linguagem de especificação formal escolhida foi CSP-OZ, uma combinação de CSP e Object-Z. Object-Z é uma extensão orientada a objetos da linguagem Z para a especificação de predicados, tipicamente pré e pós condições, além de invariantes de dados. CSP (Communicating Sequential Process) é uma álgebra de processos desenvolvida para descrever modelos comportamentais de processos paralelos. A checagem de modelos especificados formalmente consiste na análise das especificações para verificar se um sistema possui certas propriedades através de uma busca exaustiva em todos os estados em que este pode entrar durante sua execução. Neste contexto, é possível checar corretude, livelocks, deadlocks, etc. Além disso, pode-se relacionar duas especificações diferentes a fim de se checar relações de refinamento. Para as especificações, o verificador de modelos FDR da Formal Systems Ltd. será utilizado. A implementação é desenvolvida utilizando um perfil da linguagem Ada denominado RavenSPARK, uma junção do perfil Ravenscar (desenvolvido na Universidade de York) com a linguagem SPARK (um subconjunto da linguagem Ada desenvolvido pela Praxis, Inc.). O Ravenscar é um perfil para desenvolvimento de processos, e portanto os processos de CSP, incluindo seus canais de comunicação, podem ser facilmente criados. Por outro lado, SPARK é uma linguagem onde podem ser inseridos predicados para os dados (originalmente especificados em Object-Z) utilizando anotações da própria linguagem. A linguagem SPARK possui uma ferramenta, o Examinador, que pode checar códigos de modelos baseado nestas anotações. Em resumo, o método proposto permite tanto a checagem de modelos em CSP quanto a checagem no nível de código. Para isso, as especificações em Object-Z devem inicialmente ser convertidas em um código na linguagem SPARK juntamente com suas respectivas anotações, para que então a checagem do modelo possa ser realizada no código. O desenvolvimento de uma arquitetura de controle reativa para um ROV denominado VSOR (Veículo Submarino Operado Remotamente) é utilizado como exemplo de uso do método proposto. Toda a arquitetura de controle é codificada utilizando a linguagem Ada com o perfil RavenSPARK e embarcada em um computador do tipo PC104 com o sistema operacional de tempo real VxWorks, da Windriver, Inc. / The development of control architectures for Underwater Vehicles is a complex task. These control architectures might be chracterised by the following attributes: real-time, multitasking, concurrency, and distributed over communication networks. In this scenario, we have multiple processes running in parallel, possibly distributed, and engaging in communication between each other. In this context, the behavioural model might lead to phenomena like deadlocks, livelocks, race conditions, among others. In order to try to minimize the effects of such difficulties, in this work a method for model checking control architectures of underwater vehicles based on formal specifications is presented. The chosen formal specification language is CSP-OZ, a combination of CSP and Object-Z. Object-Z is an object-oriented extension of Z for the specification of predicates, typically, data pre, post and invariant conditions. CSP (Communicating Sequential Process) is a process algebra developed to describe behavioural models of parallel process. The model checking of formal specifications is a task of reasoning on specifications in which a system verifies certain properties by means of an exhaustive search of all possible states that a system could enter during its execution. In this context, it is possible to check about correctness, liveness, deadlock, etc. Also, one can relate two different specifications in order to check a refinement ordering. For the specifications, the model checker FDR of Formal Systems Ltd. is utilised. The implementation is developed using an ADA language profile called RavenSPARK, a union of the Ravenscar profile (developed at the University of York) and the SPARK language (a subset of the ADA language developed by Praxis, Inc.). The Ravenscar is a profile for developing processes, so CSP processes including their message channels can be easily deployed. On the other hand, SPARK is a language where one can insert data predicates (originally specified in Object-Z) using language annotations. The SPARK language has a tool, the Examiner, that can model check code based on these annotations. In summary, the proposed method allows model checking of CSP processes but does not allow any checking in the code level. On the contrary, Object-Z specifications must first be converted into a SPARK language code, together with proper annotations, and then model checking can be realised in code. The development of a real-time reactive control architecture of an ROV named VSOR (Veiculo Submarino Operado Remotamente) is used as an example of the use of the proposed method. The whole control architecture is coded using the ADA Language with the RavenSPARK profile and deployed into a PC104 cpu system running the Vxworks real-time operating system of Windriver, Inc.

Atualmente está aumentando a necessidade de utilização de veículos submersíveis não tripulados nos meios aquáticos, tanto para observação científica, como também para monitoramento de obras de engenharia. As posições destes veículos são controladas, em geral, manualmente o que torna essas operações tarefas longas e cansativas aos seus pilotos. Uma alternativa que simplifica estas operações é a utilização, quando necessário, de um sistema automático de posição para aliviar o piloto de funções básicas. Para o desenvolvimento de um sistema de posicionamento automático eficiente é necessário um modelo matemático para a dinâmica do veículo, que envolve o conhecimento dos parâmetros hidrodinâmicos que caracterizam o comportamento do veículo, principalmente em casos onde o veículo possua formas geométricas complexas, sendo assim torna-se compulsório a realização de métodos experimentais para a determinação dos coeficientes hidrodinâmicos do modelo. Na Faculdade de Tecnologia de Jahu vem se desenvolvendo desde 1999 a segunda versão de um veículo submersível não tripulado para utilização em ambiente fluvial denominado VSNT JAÚ II. Este trabalho propõe a utilização de métodos experimentais para a obtenção de alguns dos coeficientes hidrodinâmicos do veículo, no qual são considerados massa adicional e amortecimento viscoso que serão estimados através de ensaios de decaimento livre, utilizando um modelo em escala reduzida e técnicas de processamento digital de imagem. Para estimativa dos coeficientes de massa adicional e amortecimento viscoso o método proposto é baseado método dos mínimos quadrados e separa os movimentos do veículo em dois planos, vertical e horizontal, considerando termos de acoplamento nos movimentos nesses planos. / Unmanned underwater vehicles they have been used continually by the planet in spite of the difficulties of your operation, both for scientific observation, but also for monitoring of engineering works. The positions of these vehicles are controlled, in general, which makes manually they work long and tiring to their pilots. An alternative that simplifies this operation is the use of an automatic system of position to relieve the pilot of basic functions. For the development of an efficient of automatic positioning system it is necessary a mathematical model of the vehicle, it is necessary the knowledge of the hydrodynamic parameters that characterize the behavior of the vehicle. Those parameters are difficult to obtain through theoretical procedures, in cases where the vehicle possesses complex forms, and then experimental methods are used. In Faculdade de Tecnologia de Jahu it comes the developing since 1999 the second version of an unmanned underwater vehicle for use in fluvial environments denominated VSNT JAÚ II. This work proposes the use of an experimental method for the obtaining of some of the hydrodynamic coefficients of the Vehicle, based on rehearsals of free decay, using a model in reduced scale and techniques of digital image processing. The proposed procedure separates the movements of the vehicle in two plans, vertical and horizontal, considering joining terms in the movements in those plans.

Dissertação(mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Oceânica, Escola de Engenharia, 2007. / Submitted by Lilian M. Silva (lilianmadeirasilva@hotmail.com) on 2013-04-23T20:52:40Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Projeto e construção de um veículo subaquático não tripulado de baixo custo.pdf: 1267914 bytes, checksum: de003a4ec22d232cb5b78deb87dd39c5 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Bruna Vieira(bruninha_vieira@ibest.com.br) on 2013-06-08T23:09:06Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Projeto e construção de um veículo subaquático não tripulado de baixo custo.pdf: 1267914 bytes, checksum: de003a4ec22d232cb5b78deb87dd39c5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-06-08T23:09:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Projeto e construção de um veículo subaquático não tripulado de baixo custo.pdf: 1267914 bytes, checksum: de003a4ec22d232cb5b78deb87dd39c5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / A escassez de alguns recursos naturais como petróleo e gás na superfície terrestre, têm feito com que a raça humana volte sua atenção para as profundezas dos oceanos nestas últimas décadas. Os ROVs (Remotely Operated Vehicle) possuem função importante para o estudo, preservação e execução de tarefas em ambiente subaquático com segurança. Infelizmente no Brasil, as iniciativas de produzir um ROV com tecnologia nacional e de baixo custo, quando comparado a equivalentes importados, são ainda raras e se restringem a algumas poucas instituições acadêmicas, não tendo sido localizado nenhum fabricante comercial deste tipo de veículo no país. Visando preencher esta lacuna, o presente trabalho deu continuidade ao projeto e construção de um ROV de baixo custo iniciado por Moraes em 2005, do qual efetivamente foi aproveitado o projeto estrutural mecânico, que através de pequenas modificações, ganhou uma câmera de vídeo, propulsores mais potentes, e sistema de iluminação. A eletrônica embarcada foi totalmente modificada visando atender às novas exigências de potência do sistema, e de funções antes inexistentes tais como: zoom, foco,nível de iluminação e controle de trajetória efetivado através de um único joystick. O novo modelo de acelerômetro empregado permitiu a medição de aceleração em três eixos ortogonais. Na fase final do trabalho foi incorporado ao ROV um altímetro, o que propiciou alguns resultados experimentais envolvendo controle de profundidade em malha fechada. No último capítulo desta dissertação foram incluídas algumas conclusões e considerações que deverão colaborar para futuras melhorias deste projeto. / The scarcity of some natural resources as oil and gas in the terrestrial surface has called human race attention toward the deepness of the oceans in these last decades. ROVs(Remotely Operated Vehicles) have important function for the study, preservation and execution of tasks in subaqueous environment with security. In Brazil, the initiatives to produce a ROV with national technology and low cost, when compared with imported devices, are still rare and restrict to some academic institutions, not having been found commercial manufacturer of this type of vehicle in the country. Aiming to fill this gap, the present work gave continuity to the project and construction of the ROV of low cost initiated by Moraes in 2005, from which effectively the mechanical structural project was used and, through small modifications, it was incorporaded a video camera, more powerful propellants, and lighting system. The embarked electronics was totally modified aiming to supply the new requirements of power system, and functions before inexistent such as zoom, focus, level of illumination and control of trajectory accomplished through only one joystick. The new model of accelerometer employed allows the measurement of acceleration in three orthogonal axes. In the final phase of the work an altimeter was incorporated to the ROV, which propitiated some experimental results in depth closed loop control. In the last chapter of this dissertation were enclosed some conclusions and considerations that will collaborate for future improvements in this project.

The production of clean water, the generation of nuclear power and the development of chemicals, petro-chemicals and pharmaceuticals all rely on liquid-based processes. They are fundamental to modern society, however the real-time monitoring of such processes is an inherently difficult challenge which has not yet been satisfactorily solved.Current methods of monitoring include on- and off-line spot checks and industrial process tomography. Neither of these methods provides the spatial or temporal resolution required to properly characterise the processes. This research project proposes a new monitoring method for processes which can tolerate foreign objects; a mobile underwater sensor network (MUSN).An MUSN has the potential to increase both the spatial and temporal resolution of measurements and could be used in real-time. The network would be formed by a number of mobile sensor platforms, in the form of micro-autonomous underwater vehicles (uAUVs) which would communicate using acoustics. The demonstrator for the technology is for use in the monitoring of nuclear storage ponds.Current AUV technology is not suitable for use in enclosed environments such as storage ponds due to the size and maneuverability. This thesis presents the research conducted in the development of a new vehicle uAUV. The work presented covers the mechatronic aspects of the vehicle; the design of the hull, propulsion systems, corresponding control circuitry and basic motion control systems. One of the main factors influencing the design of the vehicle has been cost. If a large number of vehicles are used to form a network, the cost of an individual uAUV should be kept as low as possible. This has raised a number of technical challenges as low-cost components are often of low-tolerance. Imbalanced time-varying thrust, low manufacturing tolerances and noisy indirect sensor measurements for the control systems have all been overcome in the design of the vehicle. The outcome of the research is a fully functional prototype uAUV. The vehicle is spherical in shape with a diameter of approximately 15cm, with six thruster units mounted around the equator (increasing the horizontal clearance to 20cm) to provide thrust in four degrees of freedom (surge, sway, heave and yaw). The vehicle has a sensor suite which includes a pressure sensor, digital compass and a gyroscope which provide inputs to the motion control systems. The controllers have been developed and implemented on the vehicle's custom built embedded system. Experiments have been conducted showing that the uAUV is able to move in 3D with closed-loop control in heave and yaw. Motion in surge and sway is open-loop, via a dead-reckoning system.

abstract: The need for incorporating game engines into robotics tools becomes increasingly crucial as their graphics continue to become more photorealistic. This thesis presents a simulation framework, referred to as OpenUAV, that addresses cloud simulation and photorealism challenges in academic and research goals. In this work, OpenUAV is used to create a simulation of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) closely following a moving autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) in an underwater coral reef environment. It incorporates the Unity3D game engine and the robotics software Gazebo to take advantage of Unity3D's perception and Gazebo's physics simulation. The software is developed as a containerized solution that is deployable on cloud and on-premise systems. This method of utilizing Gazebo's physics and Unity3D perception is evaluated for a team of marine vehicles (an AUV and an ASV) in a coral reef environment. A coordinated navigation and localization module is presented that allows the AUV to follow the path of the ASV. A fiducial marker underneath the ASV facilitates pose estimation of the AUV, and the pose estimates are filtered using the known dynamical system model of both vehicles for better localization. This thesis also investigates different fiducial markers and their detection rates in this Unity3D underwater environment. The limitations and capabilities of this Unity3D perception and Gazebo physics approach are examined. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Computer Science 2020

The growing need for ocean surveillance and exploration has pushed the development of novel autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) technology. A current trend is to make use of bio-inspired propulsor to increase the overall system efficiency and performance, an improvement that has deep implications in the dynamics of the system. The goal of this dissertation is to propose a generic robust control framework specific for bio-inspired autonomous underwater vehicles (BIAUV). These vehicles utilize periodic oscillation of a flexible structural component to generate thrust, a propulsion mechanism that can be tuned to operate under resonance and consequently improve the overall system efficiency. The control parameter should then be selected to keep the system operating in such a condition. Another important aspect is to have a controller design technique that can address the time-varying behaviors, structured uncertainties and system nonlinearities. To address these needs a robust, model-based, nonlinear controller design technique is presented, called digital sliding mode controller (DSMC), which also takes into account the discrete implementation of these laws using microcontrollers. The control law is implemented in the control of a jellyfish-inspired autonomous underwater vehicle. / Ph. D.

La presente tesis tiene como principal objetivo el diseño de un sistema de control para la navegación automática de vehí-culos subacuáticos autónomos y teleoperados, asegurando propiedades de amplia maniobrabilidad y de alta performance de control en los 6 grados de libertad de movimiento, ante incertidumbres y variaciones temporales de la dinámica y bajo el efecto de perturbaciones externas del entorno y de cable. El control desarrollado es del tipo adaptivo y esta basado en el método de gradiente de velocidad con proyección dinámica suave, apto para una clase general y casi arbitraria de cambios paramétricos comunes a operacio-nes en la Ingeniería Oceánica. Se incluye en el diseño del sistema la dinámica parásita de los propulsores mediante la utilización de observadores de estados y disturbios para establecer la entrada óptima de los actuadores. Esta modifica-ción produce una diferencia entre la fuerza de propulsión real y la fuerza ideal requerida por la acción de control, la cual es tratada como una perturbación endógena. Para este diseño se analiza en detalle la convergencia de los errores de trayecto-ria espacial y cinemática, la acotabilidad de las variables del lazo de control y la performance transitoria.También se realizó el modelado del sistema barco-cable-vehículo para corrientes estacionarias y olas de componentes de baja y media frecuen-cia. Los resultados sugieren que la magnitud de la perturba-ción del cable (denominada perturbación exógena) puede ser controlada mediante la regulación del largo del cable. Para ambos tipos de perturbaciones (endógena y exógena) se demuestra mediante teoremas que el controlador diseñado es totalmente estable. Esto significa que el error de seguimiento de trayectorias permanece acotado, alrededor del punto de equilibrio del sistema no perturbado, para perturbaciones y condiciones iniciales acotadas. El orden del error depende de la magnitud de las perturbaciones. Los resultados perseguidos se orientaron a la aplicación en operaciones planificadas de muestreo y rastreo sobre el fondo marino, reduciendo eventualmente los tiempos de navegación a un mínimo sobre las trayectorias especificadas. Para la realización de esto último se diseñó un algoritmo de optimización del tiempo de recorrido de trayectorias de referencia geométricas. El algo-ritmo se incluyó en el esquema de control adaptivo demos-trándose las propiedades de convergencia para el sistema completo. / The present Thesis has as principal objective the design of a control system for the automatic navigation of autonomous and teleoperated underwater vehicles, assuring properties of high maneuverability and high control performance in the six degrees of freedom, in front of uncertainties and time-varying dynamics, under the effect of external perturbation of the environment and the cable. The developed control is based on a speed-gradient adaptive law with a smooth dynamic projection, suitable for a general and almost arbitrary class of parametric changes, commons to operations in Oceanic Engineering. The parasitic dynamics of the thrusters is included in the system design by means of the use of state/disturbance observers to establish the optimal input to the actuators. This modification causes a difference between the ideal thrust required by the control action and the real thrust. The result is a force error that is dealt as an endoge-nous perturbation. The error convergence in the spatial and cinematic trajectories, the boundness of the variables in the control loop and the transitory performance are analyzed in detail. The modelling of the system ship-cable-vehicle is also realized for stationary currents and waves of low and middle frequency. These results suggest that the magnitude of the cable perturbation (namely exogenous perturbation) can be controlled by means of the cable length regulation. For both types of perturbation (endogenous and exogenous), the total stability of the designed controller is proved by theorems. This stability class means that the tracking error keeps bounded around the equilibrium point of the nonpertur-bed system for bounded perturbations and bounded initial conditions. The order of error depends on the magni-tude of the perturbations. The following results are oriented to the application in planned operations of sampling and path tracking on the sea bottom, eventually reducing the naviga-tion time to a minimum over the specified trajectories. For the accomplishment of this last objective, an algorithm is designed to optimize the time used to cover the geometric trajectory reference. The algorithm is included in the scheme of the adaptive control and the convergence property is proved for the complete system.