自治水下机器人心智模型

自治水下机器人(Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, AUV)在复杂的环境中作业,对其智能水平提出了很高的要求。结合Agent理论的研究成果,在信念 愿望 意图（BDI）逻辑的基础上拓展出自治水下机器人心智逻辑（AML）,用于建立AUV心智模型,在无损AUV自治性和反应性的前提下,增强了其主动性和社会性。定义了AML的语法和语义,证明了系统的可靠性和完备性,给出了AUV的心智活动过程。仿真实验结果证明了AUV心智模型的正确性和有效性。     

自主水下航行器的回坞导引和入坞控制算法

针对军事侦察和海洋环境监测领域中对自主水下航行器（AUV）水下自主回收能力的需求,研究了AUV自主回收过程中回坞和入坞的导引和控制问题。将水下自主回收过程分为回坞导引和入坞控制两个连续的阶段,其中回坞阶段采用经典的视线（LOS）导引法,使AUV到达回收器正前方的回坞航路点;入坞阶段则采用非线性横向跟踪控制方法,使AUV精确跟踪沿回收器中轴线的入坞直线航路航行并最终进入回收器。采用REMUS AUV的模型参数对水下回收进行了仿真研究,结果表明该方法是有效的,具有良好的工程应用前景。     

具有PID反馈增益的自主水下航行器反步法变深控制

本文针对海底地形测绘时自主水下航行器(autonomous underwater vehicle,AUV)的变深控制问题,提出具有PID增益调节的AUV深度控制方法,基于反馈增益的反步法设计控制器,避免了采用传统反步法导致控制器中存在虚拟控制量的高阶导数问题;基于李雅普诺夫稳定性理论设计控制器参数消除了部分非线性项,得到的控制器的线性部分为状态变量的线性组合,具有PID控制器参数调节的形式;针对存在建模不精确、外界干扰和测量噪声时的闭环系统鲁棒性进行分析,保证了误差系统在扰动作用时的一致最终有界性.最后通过仿真实验验证了本文设计的控制器的有效性.     

Synchronization of multiple autonomous underwater vehicles without velocity measurements

In this paper,we investigate the synchronization control of multiple autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs),considering both state feedback and output feedback cases.Treating multiple AUVs as a graph,we define the tracking error of each AUV with both its own tracking error and the relative position errors with respect to its neighbors taken into account.Lyapunov analysis is used to derive the control law for each AUV.For the output feedback case,a passive filter is used to compensate for the unknown relative velocity errors among AUVs,and an observer is employed to estimate the velocity of the AUV itself.Rigid mathematical proof is provided for the proposed algorithms for both state feedback and output feedback cases.Simulations are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.It is shown that,the synchronization error is smaller in the case of considering the relative errors between AUVs than in the case of considering the tracking error of the single AUV only.     

AUV辅助的水下传感器网络时钟同步算法

针对当前水下传感器网络中的时钟同步难题,设计了一种三元阵被动定位自主水下航行器（ AUV）模型,并基于此模型提出了AUV辅助的时钟同步（ AUV-Sync）算法。该算法通过AUV与节点之间相对运动过程中进行的信息交换来对节点相对距离进行估计,进而基于相对距离计算单向传播时延来降低由于节点移动性所导致的误差。最后,通过两轮加权最小二乘法进行线性回归来估计时钟同步的参数。仿真结果表明：在存在节点漂移的动态水下传感器网络环境中,该算法较其他相关算法有更高的精度。     

基于卡尔曼滤波的自主式水下航行器大尺度编队控制

针对网络环境下环境噪声对自主式水下航行器编队控制的影响,提出一种利用卡尔曼滤波实时估计AUV最优运动状态的编队控制方法.将空间间隔较远的多AUV系统建模为多智能体系统,从大尺度上研究其编队控制问题.为了得到每个AUV速度状态的最优估计值,每个AUV都嵌入一个全局卡尔曼滤波器,利用该全局滤波器进行最优估计从而计算出噪声环境下其自身的最优位置.仿真结果验证了所给出的控制策略的有效性.     

Underwater guidance of distributed autonomous underwater vehicles using one leader

Consider the case where autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are deployed to monitor a 3D underwater environment. This paper tackles the problem of guiding all AUVs to the destination while not colliding with a priori unknown 3D obstacles. Suppose that among all AUVs, only the leader AUV has an ability of locating itself, while accessing a destination location. A follower, an AUV that is not a leader, has no sensors for locating itself. Every follower can only measure the relative position of its neighbor AUVs utilizing its sonar sensors. Our paper addresses distributed controls, so that multiple followers track the leader while preserving communication connectivity. We design controls, so that all AUVs reach the destination safely, while maintaining connectivity in cluttered 3D environments. To the best of our knowledge, our article is novel in developing 3D underwater guidance controls, so that all AUVs equipped with sonar sensors are guided to reach a destination in a priori unknown cluttered environments. MATLAB simulations are used to validate the proposed guidance scheme in underwater environments with many obstacles.     

Experimental analysis of low‐altitude terrain following for hover‐capable flight‐style autonomous underwater vehicles

Operating an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) in close proximity to terrain typically relies solely on the vehicle sensors for terrain detection, and challenges the manoeuvrability of energy efficient flight‐style AUVs. This paper gives new results on altitude tracking limits of such vehicles by using the fully understood environment of a lake to perform repeated experiments while varying the altitude demand, obstacle detection and actuator use of a hover‐capable flight‐style AUV. The results are analysed for mission success, vehicle risk and repeatability, demonstrating the terrain following capabilities of the overactuated AUV over a range of altitude tracking strategies and how these measures better inform vehicle operators. A major conclusion is that the effects of range limits, bias and false detections of the sensors used for altitude tracking must be fully accounted for to enable mission success. Furthermore it was found that switching between hover‐ and flight‐style actuations based on speed, whilst varying the operation speed, has advantages for performance improvement over combining hover‐ and flight‐style actuators at high speeds.     

基于单目视觉的水下机器人管道检测

以单目CCD摄像机为视觉传感器,利用视觉系统测量方法获得水下管道的导航信息,并在此基础上建立了一个用于水下机器人的水下管道检测系统． 按照数据结构的抽象程度,将系统中传递的数据信息分为由低至高4个层次,描述了各层次内容,详细介绍了水下机器人管道检测方法． 为了提高系统的准确性和实时性,采用了动态窗口管道检测方法．在室内实验水池中,以某型号水下机器人为试验载体,进行了多次管道跟踪试验,验证了系统的可行性和有效性．     

采用一致性算法与虚拟结构的多自主水下航行器编队控制

采用一致性算法与虚拟结构法研究了多自主水下航行器(AUV)小尺度编队控制问题.首先针对各自主水下航行器拥有不同虚拟领航者信息(参考信息)的情况,通过对各AUV拥有的不一致参考信息进行一致性协商而达到状态一致.其次,基于虚拟结构思想采用坐标变换将各AUV相对于虚拟领航者的相对位置转换为各自的期望位置,并设计了一种有限时间跟踪控制律以确保各AUV能在有限时间内跟踪上其期望轨迹,从而实现了多AUV的小尺度有限时间编队控制.最后仿真实验验证了控制策略的有效性.     

水下航行器执行机构的故障诊断与容错控制

为了解决水下航行器执行机构的故障,提出低依赖性和高普适性的故障诊断与容错控制算法.故障诊断由检测、隔离和辨识3个阶段组成.首先,定义比例式、偏差式和常量式3种故障类型,设计相应故障观测器,在满足指数收敛性的前提下检测出故障.其次,基于故障估计与其微分的指数收敛性,建立故障函数,以方差最小为条件隔离出实际故障;然后,联立控制输入方程和故障估计,辨识出故障执行机构.在故障诊断和反馈控制的基础上,通过修正期望控制输入,实现满足闭环稳定性的容错控制.经水下航行器回坞仿真实验验证,所提故障诊断和容错控制算法可行且有效.     

LDPC码在基于FH-FSK的AUV水声通信系统中的应用

水声信道严重的多途干扰和频率选择性衰落,将增加水声FH-FSK系统的平均误码率.此外,由于自主式水下交通工具(AUV)平台的运动特性,接收信号易产生时间选择性衰落,在接收端产生成串的突发错误甚至导致通信的中断.以上两方面因素将降低移动FH-FSK系统的可靠性,针对此问题,将多元低密度奇偶校验(LDPC)码与FH-FSK系统相结合,提出了一种基于多元LDPC码的水声FH-FSK系统.对比了基于二元LDPC码的FH-FSK系统与基于卷积码的FH-FSK系统的抗干扰性能,实验结果表明:前者具有更强的抗干扰能力.对比了基于多元LDPC码的FH-FSK系统与基于二元LDPC码的FH-FSK系统,仿真与实验结果表明:基于多元LDPC码的FH-FSK系统具有更强的抗干扰能力,可以进一步提高FH-FSK系统的可靠性.     

Depth control of autonomous underwater vehicles using indirect robust control method

In this article, we propose a robust depth control design scheme for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) in the presence of hydrodynamic parameter uncertainties and disturbances. The controller is designed via a new indirect robust control method that handles the uncertainties by formulating the uncertainty bounds into the cost functional and then transforming the robust control problem into an equivalent optimal control problem. Both robust asymptotic stability and optimality can be achieved and proved with this new formulation. The θ-D method is utilised to solve the resultant nonlinear optimal control problem such that an approximate closed-form feedback controller can be obtained and thus is easy to implement onboard without intensive computation load. Simulation results demonstrate that robust depth control is accomplished under the system parameter uncertainties and disturbances with small control fin deflection requirement.     

Robust fuzzy 3D path following for autonomous underwater vehicle subject to uncertainties

This paper addresses a three-dimensional (3D) path following control problem for underactuated autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) subject to both internal and external uncertainties. A two-layered framework synthesizing the 3D guidance law and heuristic fuzzy control is proposed to achieve robust adaptive following along a predefined path. In the first layer, a 3D guidance controller for underactuated AUV is presented to guarantee the stability of path following in the kinematics stage. In the second layer, a heuristic adaptive fuzzy algorithm based on the guidance command and feedback linearization Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller is developed in the dynamics stage to account for the nonlinear dynamics and system uncertainties, including inaccuracy modelling parameters and time-varying environmental disturbances. Furthermore, the sensitivity analysis of the heuristic fuzzy controller is presented. Against most existing methods for 3D path following, the proposed robust fuzzy control scheme reduces the design and implementation costs of complicated dynamics controller, and relaxes the knowledge of the accuracy dynamics modelling and environmental disturbances. Finally, numerical simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed control framework and illustrate the outperformance of the proposed controller as well.     

Three-dimensional optimal path planning for waypoint guidance of an autonomous underwater vehicle

In this paper, optimal three-dimensional paths are generated offline for waypoint guidance of a miniature Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). Having the starting point, the destination point, and the position and dimension of the obstacles, the AUV is intended to systematically plan an optimal path toward the target. The path is defined as a set of waypoints to be passed by the vehicle. Four criteria are considered for evaluation of an optimal path; they are “total length of path”, “margin of safety”, “smoothness of the planar motion” and “gradient of diving”. A set of Pareto-optimal solutions is found where each solution represents an optimal feasible path that cannot be outrun by any other path considering all four criteria. Then, a proposed three-dimensional guidance system is used for guidance of the AUV through selected optimal paths. This system is inspired from the Line-of-Sight (LOS) guidance strategy; the idea is to select the desired depth, presumed proportional to the horizontal distance of the AUV and the target. To develop this guidance strategy, the dynamic modeling of this novel miniature AUV is also derived. The simulation results show that this guidance system efficiently guides the AUV through the optimal paths.     

Minimizing position uncertainty for under-ice autonomous underwater vehicles

Localization underwater has been known to be challenging due to the limited accessibility of the Global Positioning System (GPS) to obtain absolute positions. This becomes more severe in the under-ice environment since the ocean surface is covered with ice, making it more difficult to access GPS or to deploy localization infrastructure. In this paper, a novel solution that minimizes localization uncertainty and communication overhead of under-ice Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) is proposed. Existing underwater localization solutions generally rely on reference nodes at ocean surface or on localization infrastructure to calculate positions, and they are not able to estimate the localization uncertainty, which may lead to the increase of localization error. In contrast, using the notion of external uncertainty (i.e., the position uncertainty as seen by others), our solution can characterize an AUV’s position with a probability model. This model is further used to estimate the uncertainty associated with our proposed localization techniques. Based on this uncertainty estimate, we further propose algorithms to minimize localization uncertainty and communication overhead. Our solution is emulated and compared against existing solutions, showing improved performance.     

A two‐step control approach for docking of autonomous underwater vehicles

This paper presents a novel integrated guidance and control strategy for docking of autonomous underwater vehicles. The approach to the base, and hence the control design, is divided in two steps: (i) in the first, at higher speed, the vehicle dynamics is assumed to be underactuated, and an appropriate control law is derived to steer the vehicle towards the final docking path, achieving convergence to zero of the appropriate error variables for almost all initial conditions; (ii) in the second stage, at low speed, the vehicle is assumed to be fully actuated, and a robust control law is designed that achieves convergence to zero of the appropriate error variables for all initial conditions, in the presence of parametric model uncertainty. Simulations are presented illustrating the performance of the proposed controllers, including model uncertainty and sensor noise. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Robust adaptive trajectory tracking control of underactuated autonomous underwater vehicles with prescribed performance

In this paper, a novel robust adaptive trajectory tracking control scheme with prescribed performance is developed for underactuated autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) subject to unknown dynamic parameters and disturbances. A simple error mapping function is proposed in order to guarantee that the trajectory tracking error satisfies the prescribed performance. A novel additional control based on Nussbaum function is proposed to handle the underactuation of AUVs. The compounded uncertain item caused by the unknown dynamic parameters and disturbances is transformed into a linear parametric form with only single unknown parameter called virtual parameter. On the basis of the above, a novel robust adaptive trajectory tracking control law is developed using dynamic surface control technique, where the adaptive law online provides the estimation of the virtual parameter. Strict stability analysis indicates that the designed control law ensures uniform ultimate boundedness of the AUV trajectory tracking closed‐loop control system with prescribed tracking performance. Simulation results on an AUV in two different disturbance cases with dynamic parameter perturbation verify the effectiveness of our adaptive trajectory tracking control scheme.