Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
3.7
2.9
Journals
JMSE
Special Issues
Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics
share announcement

Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics

A special issue of Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (ISSN 2077-1312). This special issue belongs to the section "Ocean Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 July 2023) | Viewed by 78646

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Mai The Vu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Unmanned Vehicle Engineering, Sejong University, Seoul 05000, Republic of Korea
Interests: system dynamics; mechatronics; underwater vehicles; automation and robotics; trajectory tracking; path planning; multi-body dynamic modeling, intelligent navigation, autonomous vehicles
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Hyeung-Sik Choi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Division of Mechanical Engineering, Korea Maritime and Ocean University, Busan 49112, Republic of Korea
Interests: robotics and control; artificial intelligence; humanoid robots; Unmanned Underwater Vehicles; robust control; ultra-high-speed control
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

You are invited to contribute a submission for publication in a Special Issue of the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (JMSE), entitled "Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics".

Nowadays, we are capable of investigating the surface of the earth and exploring outer space, but we have minimal knowledge about the ocean environment and deep-sea world. Oceans cover about 70% of the surface area of the earth, and enormous wealth and resources are buried in seas. At present, techniques for the maritime industry and undersea development are still very limited and awkward. The ocean development activities are expanding into various fields as the exhaustion of mineral resources as well as spaces on land is approaching. Subsea oil and gas production, the oceanographic survey of underwater facilities, submarine topography, and the artificial island are realized, as well as the enhancement of traditional ocean activities, such as fisheries and sea transportation. All these activities depend on the specific system technology comprising sea surface and underwater systems. Following the active development of ocean resources, the demand for underwater work has increased rapidly, and various underwater technologies have been developed for various vehicles, such as USVs (unmanned surface vehicles), ROVs (remotely operated vehicles), AUVs (autonomous underwater vehicles), underwater gliders and marine animal robots. Modeling, control and navigation techniques are very important for the design and construction of efficient vehicle systems to enhance safety and reliability.

The aim of this Special Issue is to provide a comprehensive overview of the state of the art in the modeling, control, guidance, state estimation, cooperation and localization of marine vehicles and robotics. We invite research articles that will consolidate our understanding of this area. This Special Issue will publish full research papers and reviews about the recent theoretical and experimental works, applications, advances and challenges in the field. We also encourage contributions outlining the applications of novel techniques that provide important information on this topic. Potential topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Unmanned surface vehicle (USV), autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs), remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), underwater gliders;
  • Swarms of unmanned marine vehicles, multiple vehicle mission control and planning, cooperative surface and underwater vehicles;
  • Guidance, navigation and path planning;
  • Vehicle design;
  • Kinematics and vehicle dynamics;
  • Maneuvering and navigation schemes;
  • Sensor and actuator systems;
  • CFD applications;
  • Structural models and structural analysis;
  • Dynamic positioning system;
  • Vehicle model tests, applications, case studies, field trials and experimental results;
  • Control, modeling and simulation;
  • Communication systems;
  • Machine learning methods (least square, regularization methods, neural networks, Kalman filter, etc.) and their applications in marine vehicles;
  • Path following, path planning, trajectory planning and automatic collision avoidance;
  • Applications of artificial intelligent (AI) / machine learning (ML) in autonomous marine networks;
  • Underwater localization, navigation and tracking;
  • Underwater sensors and sensor networks;
  • Machine learning methods for marine robotics;
  • Intelligent and adaptive control architectures.

We look forward to receiving your contributions to bring together the latest developments in this area within this Special Issue of JMSE.

Sincerely,

Dr. Mai The Vu
Prof. Dr. Hyeung-Sik Choi
Guest Editors

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

  • path planning and waypoint optimization
  • path following
  • collision avoidance
  • vehicle dynamics
  • formation control
  • autopilot
  • guidance system
  • robotics and control
  • linear and nonlinear control
  • intelligent control
  • docking and berthing control
  • optimization and control of autonomous ocean systems
  • machine learning and deep learning
  • Localization, mapping and SLAM
  • navigation and control architectures
  • cables and mooring

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (34 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Other

15 pages, 5330 KiB  
Article
Modeling and Implementation of Probability-Based Underwater Docking Assessment Index
by Seung-Jae Chon, Joon-Young Kim, Hyeung-Sik Choi and Jong-Hwa Kim
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(11), 2127; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11112127 - 8 Nov 2023
Viewed by 1802
Abstract
The goal of underwater docking is to safely insert an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) into the docking sleeve of a docking station (DS). However, AUVs frequently experience disturbances in their operating environment under motional constraints owing to their shapes, which can significantly impede [...] Read more.
The goal of underwater docking is to safely insert an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) into the docking sleeve of a docking station (DS). However, AUVs frequently experience disturbances in their operating environment under motional constraints owing to their shapes, which can significantly impede successful docking missions. Therefore, it is essential to develop an assessment method and corresponding index representing feasibility. In this study, we suggest a new assessment method and a probability-based assessment index to assess the underwater docking process, considering aforementioned motional constraints. The assessment is made for both the position and heading angle of the AUV, with the results presented in probabilistic figures. These figures are used to estimate the assessment index, which represents the probability of successful docking. The final decision on whether to dock or not can be made based on this index. When the index exceeds a predefined threshold, it indicates that the current docking process is reliable, and the docking will be successful. The suggested assessment method and the index were validated through tests conducted in various underwater environments. The results show that the probability-based index estimated through the proposed method can be grounds for successful docking. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

23 pages, 8066 KiB  
Article
Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Navigation via Sensors Maximum-Ratio Combining in Absence of Bearing Angle Data
by Vadim Kramar, Aleksey Kabanov and Kirill Dementiev
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(10), 1847; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11101847 - 22 Sep 2023
Viewed by 1246
Abstract
This paper proposes a maximum-ratio combining sensor fusion scheme for using an extended Kalman filter in the underwater vehicle positioning task by means of communication devices (buoys) providing location information using a slant-range mechanism, inertial sensors, a Doppler velocity log, and a pressure [...] Read more.
This paper proposes a maximum-ratio combining sensor fusion scheme for using an extended Kalman filter in the underwater vehicle positioning task by means of communication devices (buoys) providing location information using a slant-range mechanism, inertial sensors, a Doppler velocity log, and a pressure sensor in the absence of bearing angle data. The parameter estimation methods for all navigation system components are described. The results of simulation modeling with corresponding quality metrics are presented. The outcomes were supported by conducted field experiments. The results obtained allowed us to obtain a position determination model for the underwater vehicle, which is still a relevant and complex task for seabed explorers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 1014 KiB  
Article
Localization Uncertainty Estimation for Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Navigation
by Yong Zhang, Feihu Zhang, Zhiliang Wang and Xiaofang Zhang
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(8), 1540; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11081540 - 2 Aug 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 986
Abstract
High-precision positioning capability is a crucial technology for achieving accurate navigation in autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). However, due to severe electromagnetic wave attenuation underwater and the unavailability of the global positioning system (GPS), inertial-navigation-based dead reckoning is considered the primary method for underwater [...] Read more.
High-precision positioning capability is a crucial technology for achieving accurate navigation in autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). However, due to severe electromagnetic wave attenuation underwater and the unavailability of the global positioning system (GPS), inertial-navigation-based dead reckoning is considered the primary method for underwater positioning. Unfortunately, errors accumulated during the navigation process lead to unbounded drift, and filtering-based methods have been used to mitigate the errors, but with limited success. In this paper, we propose a precise underwater dead-reckoning mathematical model that recursively calculates the ground truth and corresponding errors based on an AUV’s motion model, and we derive empirical formulas. Compared to related methods, this approach not only models the cumulative errors of relative noise measurements, but also provides recursive expressions with corresponding statistical moments. The experimental results demonstrate that this formula significantly reduces positioning errors in underwater navigation tasks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

30 pages, 9012 KiB  
Article
Three-Dimensional Prescribed Performance Tracking Control of UUV via PMPC and RBFNN-FTTSMC
by Jiawei Li, Yingkai Xia, Gen Xu, Zixuan He, Kan Xu and Guohua Xu
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(7), 1357; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11071357 - 3 Jul 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 896
Abstract
To address the search-and-docking problem in multi-stage prescribed performance switching (MPPS) scenarios, this paper presents a novel compound control method for three-dimensional (3D) underwater trajectory tracking control of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) subjected to unknown disturbances. The proposed control framework can be divided [...] Read more.
To address the search-and-docking problem in multi-stage prescribed performance switching (MPPS) scenarios, this paper presents a novel compound control method for three-dimensional (3D) underwater trajectory tracking control of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) subjected to unknown disturbances. The proposed control framework can be divided into two parts: kinematics control and dynamics control. In the kinematics control loop, a novel parallel model predictive control (PMPC) law is proposed, which is composed of a soft-constrained model predictive controller (SMPC) and hard-constrained model predictive controller (HMPC), and utilizes a weight allocator to enable switching between soft and hard constraints based on task goals, thus achieving global optimal control in MPPS scenarios. In the dynamics control loop, a finite-time terminal sliding mode control (FTTSMC) method combining a finite-time radial basis function neural network adaptive disturbance observer (RBFNN-FTTSMC) is proposed to achieve disturbance estimation and fast convergence of velocity tracking errors. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed PMPC-FTTSMC approach achieved an average improvement of 33% and 80% in the number of iterations compared with MPC with sliding mode control (MPC-SMC) and traditional MPC methods, respectively. Furthermore, the approach improved the speed of response by 35% and 44%, respectively, while accurately achieving disturbance observation and enhancing the system robustness. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 3222 KiB  
Article
Time-Optimal Trajectory Design for Heading Motion of the Underwater Vehicle
by Ngoc-Duc Nguyen, Mai The Vu, Phi Nguyen, Jiafeng Huang, Dong-Wook Jung, Hyunjoon Cho, Phan Huy Nam Anh and Hyeung-Sik Choi
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(6), 1099; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11061099 - 23 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1140
Abstract
Underwater vehicles are a powerful tool that can assist oceanologists with measuring the state of oceans on a large scale. The heading control is essential for the underwater vehicle to follow a specific path. This study describes the general decoupled dynamics of underwater [...] Read more.
Underwater vehicles are a powerful tool that can assist oceanologists with measuring the state of oceans on a large scale. The heading control is essential for the underwater vehicle to follow a specific path. This study describes the general decoupled dynamics of underwater vehicles, which is a nonlinear second-order differential equation considering linear and quadratic damping hydrodynamics. A novel aspect of this study is the development of a new analytical solution for the second-order nonlinear differential equation, which involves the heading motion of the underwater vehicle. In this study, the time-optimal trajectory is formulated as the closed-form solution for the heading dynamics of the underwater vehicle. The concept of this trajectory is based on the shortest arrival time when the maximum force from the thrusters is applied to the underwater vehicle. Finally, a simulation of the time-optimal trajectory and evaluation of the robustness of the controller were demonstrated in order to verify the effectiveness of the proposed trajectory for controlling underwater vehicles. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

23 pages, 15592 KiB  
Article
Improved Convolutional Neural Network YOLOv5 for Underwater Target Detection Based on Autonomous Underwater Helicopter
by Ruoyu Chen and Ying Chen
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(5), 989; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11050989 - 6 May 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2122
Abstract
To detect a desired underwater target quickly and precisely, a real-time sonar-based target detection system mounted on an autonomous underwater helicopter (AUH) using an improved convolutional neural network (CNN) is proposed in this paper. YOLOv5 is introduced as the basic CNN network because [...] Read more.
To detect a desired underwater target quickly and precisely, a real-time sonar-based target detection system mounted on an autonomous underwater helicopter (AUH) using an improved convolutional neural network (CNN) is proposed in this paper. YOLOv5 is introduced as the basic CNN network because of its strength, lightweight and fast speed. Due to the turbidity and weak illumination of an undesirable underwater environment, some attention mechanisms are added, and the structure of YOLOv5 is optimized to improve the performance of the detector for sonar images with a 1–3% increment of mAP which can be up to 80.2% with an average speed of 0.025 s (40 FPS) in the embedded device. It has been verified both in the school tank and outdoor open water that the whole detection system mounted on AUH performs well and meets the requirements of real time and light weight using limited hardware. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

24 pages, 12881 KiB  
Article
Development of an Autonomous Cleaning Robot with a Hydraulic Manipulator Arm for the Cleaning of Niche Areas of a Ship Hull
by Daegil Park, Jong-Boo Han, Teakyeong Yeu, Su-gil Cho, Seongsoon Kim, Hyungwoo Kim and Yeongjun Lee
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(5), 973; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11050973 - 3 May 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3444
Abstract
Fouling organisms reduce a ship’s fuel efficiency and disturb the ecosystem. Therefore, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and many nations have enacted laws that mandate periodic hull cleaning for removing fouling organisms. However, cleaning niche areas of the ship hull is extremely difficult. [...] Read more.
Fouling organisms reduce a ship’s fuel efficiency and disturb the ecosystem. Therefore, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and many nations have enacted laws that mandate periodic hull cleaning for removing fouling organisms. However, cleaning niche areas of the ship hull is extremely difficult. Due to their complex shape, applying antifouling paint and cleaning with hull cleaning robots is difficult, but about 80% of fouling organisms are concentrated in the niche areas. To resolve this issue, this research proposes the use of an autonomous cleaning robot with a hydraulic polyarticular robot arm to clean niche areas of the ship hull. This robot can approach niche areas of the ship hull with complex shapes using its polyarticular arm. It was designed to be able to scan the cleaning area, establish a cleaning plan, and clean accordingly. This robot autonomously cleaned a propeller blade, which is a typical niche area of the ship hull, to verify the applicability of this system. The experiment results show that approximately 80% of the biofouling was removed from the hull crevices and 81% of the cleaned biofouling was recovered. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

25 pages, 5554 KiB  
Article
Vibration Suppression Trajectory Planning of Underwater Flexible Manipulators Based on Incremental Kriging-Assisted Optimization Algorithm
by Hui Huang, Guoyuan Tang, Hongxuan Chen, Jianjun Wang, Lijun Han and De Xie
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(5), 938; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11050938 - 27 Apr 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1311
Abstract
It is of great significance to expand the functions of submarines by carrying underwater manipulators with a large working space. To suppress the flexible vibration of underwater manipulators, an improved sparrow search algorithm (ISSA) combining an elite strategy and a sine algorithm is [...] Read more.
It is of great significance to expand the functions of submarines by carrying underwater manipulators with a large working space. To suppress the flexible vibration of underwater manipulators, an improved sparrow search algorithm (ISSA) combining an elite strategy and a sine algorithm is proposed for the trajectory planning of underwater flexible manipulators. In this method, the vibration evaluation function is established based on the precise dynamic model of the underwater flexible manipulator and considering complex motion and vibration constraints. Simulation results show that the ISSA algorithm requires only 1/3.68 of the time of PSO. Compared to PSO, SSA and the opposition-based learning sparrow search algorithm (OBLSSA), the optimization performance is improved by 17.3%, 13.1% and 9.7%, respectively. However, because the complex dynamics model of the underwater flexible manipulator leads to large computational effort and a long optimization time, ISSA is difficult to apply directly in practice. To obtain a large number of optimization results in a shorter time, an incremental Kriging-assisted ISSA (IKA-ISSA) is proposed in this paper. Simulation results show that IKA-ISSA has good nonlinear approximation ability and the optimization time is only 3% of that of the ISSA. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

12 pages, 2551 KiB  
Article
Fusion2Fusion: An Infrared–Visible Image Fusion Algorithm for Surface Water Environments
by Cheng Lu, Hongde Qin, Zhongchao Deng and Zhongben Zhu
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(5), 902; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11050902 - 23 Apr 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1146
Abstract
Infrared images can rely on the thermal radiation of objects for imaging, independent of lighting conditions. Furthermore, because the thermal radiation produced by targets such as people, vehicles, and boats differs greatly from the background, it is able to distinguish objects from their [...] Read more.
Infrared images can rely on the thermal radiation of objects for imaging, independent of lighting conditions. Furthermore, because the thermal radiation produced by targets such as people, vehicles, and boats differs greatly from the background, it is able to distinguish objects from their environment as well. These characteristics of infrared can be complemented with visible images, which are rich in color information but vulnerable to lighting conditions. Therefore, the fusion of IR and visible images can provide a better perception of the environment. In this paper, we propose a new infrared–visible fusion algorithm. It consists of three parts: feature extraction, fusion, and reconstruction. The attention mechanism is introduced into the feature extraction to better extract features and we propose a new way of describing the fusion task. The relationship between the two inputs is balanced by introducing a fused image obtained by summing the infrared and visible images. It is also optimized for sky layering and water surface ripples, which are common in water environments. The edge information is enhanced in the loss function and noise reduction is performed. Through comparison experiments, our algorithm achieves better results. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

22 pages, 9097 KiB  
Article
An Origami Flexiball-Inspired Soft Robotic Jellyfish
by Fuwen Hu, Zichuan Kou, Eyob Messele Sefene and Tadeusz Mikolajczyk
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(4), 714; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11040714 - 26 Mar 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2092
Abstract
Both the biomimetic design based on marine life and the origami-based design are recommended as valuable paths for solving conceptual and design problems. The insights into the combination of the two manners inspired this research: an origami polyhedra-inspired soft robotic jellyfish. The core [...] Read more.
Both the biomimetic design based on marine life and the origami-based design are recommended as valuable paths for solving conceptual and design problems. The insights into the combination of the two manners inspired this research: an origami polyhedra-inspired soft robotic jellyfish. The core idea of the story is to leverage the deformation mechanism of the origami metamaterial to approximate the jet-propelled swimming behavior of the prolate medusae. First, four possible variants of origami polyhedra were compared by the hydrodynamic simulation method to determine a suitable model for the soft body of robotic jellyfish. Second, the mathematical model for the jet propulsion performance of the soft origami body was built, and the diameter of the jet nozzle was determined through the simulation method. Third, the overall configuration and the rope-motor-driven driving method of the soft robotic jellyfish were presented, and the prototype was developed. The experimental work of jet swimming, thrust forces measurement, and cost of transport further demonstrated the presented soft robotic jellyfish. In addition, the prospective directions were also discussed to improve maneuverability, sensory perception, and morphological improvement. Due to the advantages, including but not limited to, the concise structure, low cost, and ease of manufacture, we anticipate the soft robotic jellyfish can serve for the ecological aquatic phenomena monitoring and data collection in the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

20 pages, 7714 KiB  
Article
Ocean Wave Active Compensation Analysis for Redundant Hybrid Boarding System: A Multi-Task Motion Planning Method
by Yueyue Wang, Yanhui Wei, Weihang Gao, Tianyu Ma and Yuntao Han
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(4), 708; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11040708 - 25 Mar 2023
Viewed by 1146
Abstract
In this paper, to effectively solve the joint motion planning of a nine-DOF redundant hybrid boarding system in the process of ocean wave active compensation, we present a multi-task motion planning (MTMP) method for the redundant hybrid boarding system. First, the hybrid mechanism [...] Read more.
In this paper, to effectively solve the joint motion planning of a nine-DOF redundant hybrid boarding system in the process of ocean wave active compensation, we present a multi-task motion planning (MTMP) method for the redundant hybrid boarding system. First, the hybrid mechanism is disassembled into a six-DOF parallel mechanism and a three-DOF serial mechanism for kinematic analysis separately to obtain the Jacobian matrix of the hybrid mechanism in the task space. Then, according to the configuration characteristics of the hybrid mechanism and to avoid the defects of the pseudo-inverse and weighted pseudo-inverse methods in motion planning, several secondary tasks are proposed to constrain the motion planning of the hybrid mechanism. Based on simulations and comparisons, the results show that the MTMP method solves the problems of joint limitation, reverse compensation, overlap compensation, and divergence with time in the motion planning of the pseudo-inverse method and the weighted pseudo-inverse method. Meanwhile, the MTMP method has more superiority in the joint margin and compensation space range. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

24 pages, 11317 KiB  
Article
Development of a Cascade Intelligent System for Path Planning of the Group of Marine Robotic Complexes
by Dmitry Nikushchenko, Andrey Maevskiy, Igor Kozhemyakin, Vladimir Ryzhov, Alexander Bondar, Artem Goreliy, Ivan Pechaiko and Ekaterina Nikitina
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(3), 610; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11030610 - 13 Mar 2023
Viewed by 1425
Abstract
Artificial Intelligence (hereinafter referred to as AI) systems have recently found great application and use in various industries, such as data processing, data analysis, and the operation control of marine robotic complexes, etc. In view of the ever-increasing degree of complexity of the [...] Read more.
Artificial Intelligence (hereinafter referred to as AI) systems have recently found great application and use in various industries, such as data processing, data analysis, and the operation control of marine robotic complexes, etc. In view of the ever-increasing degree of complexity of the missions assigned to marine robotic systems, it is becoming obvious that the AI technologies should be used as combined systems which can provide control of marine robotic complexes (hereinafter referred to as MRCs), their navigation in sea, logic formation of MRC behaviour in uncertain environments, path planning, and processing optimization of the received MRC payload data. All the areas mentioned above are within the field of MRC development, and currently do not have a general solution. This article discusses the development process of an intelligent system for path planning of a group of marine robotic complexes. The architecture of the intelligent system is based on a cascade approach, which includes the consistent use of functional modules designed as various “organs of perception” of the system. A detailed description of the development of each module and mathematical modelling of the presented algorithms are provided in this paper, and the main results of the conducted full-scale experiments are demonstrated. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

24 pages, 1700 KiB  
Article
Trajectory Tracking Nonlinear Controller for Underactuated Underwater Vehicles Based on Velocity Transformation
by Przemyslaw Herman
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(3), 509; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11030509 - 26 Feb 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1108
Abstract
This paper proposes an algorithm that performs the task of tracking the desired trajectory for underactuated marine vehicles (primarily underwater) that move horizontally. The control scheme, which takes into account model inaccuracies and external disturbances, was designed using the quantities obtained after the [...] Read more.
This paper proposes an algorithm that performs the task of tracking the desired trajectory for underactuated marine vehicles (primarily underwater) that move horizontally. The control scheme, which takes into account model inaccuracies and external disturbances, was designed using the quantities obtained after the transformation of the dynamic equations of motion resulting from the decomposition of the inertia matrix. This, in turn, led to the equation of dynamics with a diagonal inertia matrix. A specific feature of the offered controller is its dual role. It not only allows tracking the desired trajectory, but at the same time, makes it possible to estimate the impact of dynamic couplings when the vehicle is in motion. Such an approach to the tracking task is important at the initial design stage when the choice of the control algorithm has not yet been decided and experimental tests have not been performed. This is feasible because the new variables after the velocity transformation include not only vehicle parameters, but also actual velocities and forces. Therefore, it is also possible to track the original variables. The theoretical results were followed up with simulation tests conducted on a model with three degrees of freedom for two underwater vehicles. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

20 pages, 1464 KiB  
Article
3D Path Following Control of an Autonomous Underwater Robotic Vehicle Using Backstepping Approach Based Robust State Feedback Optimal Control Law
by Siddhartha Vadapalli and Subhasish Mahapatra
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(2), 277; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11020277 - 26 Jan 2023
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1674
Abstract
This work renders the design of a robust state feedback optimal control strategy for an Autonomous Underwater Robotic Vehicle (AURV). The control strategy is developed using a polytopic approach based on hydrodynamic parameter variation. Besides, a backstepping approach is designed to control the [...] Read more.
This work renders the design of a robust state feedback optimal control strategy for an Autonomous Underwater Robotic Vehicle (AURV). The control strategy is developed using a polytopic approach based on hydrodynamic parameter variation. Besides, a backstepping approach is designed to control the kinematics of the system. However, the dynamics of the AURV system are controlled by a robust optimal control technique. In this work, the decoupled systems for both horizontal and vertical dynamics of AURV are used for the development of the control algorithms. Furthermore, the 3-D path following is achieved by integrating the control algorithms of both horizontal and vertical dynamics of AURV. The proposed controller is formulated using semi-definite programming (SDP). To track the 3-D path, it is intended to track both the desired depth and desired yaw in diving and steering planes. The simulation studies are conducted through MATLAB/Simulink environment using the YALMIP tool. Furthermore, the robust behavior of the proposed control algorithm is verified by considering the uncertain hydrodynamic parameters. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

27 pages, 3456 KiB  
Article
Path Planning Method of Unmanned Surface Vehicles Formation Based on Improved A* Algorithm
by Tongtong Sang, Jinchao Xiao, Junfeng Xiong, Haoyun Xia and Zhongze Wang
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(1), 176; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11010176 - 10 Jan 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1977
Abstract
Unmanned surface vehicle (USV) formation is a hot topic of current research. Path planning is the core technology for USV formation. This paper focuses on a USV formation path planning problem considering kinetic constraints. Firstly, an improved A* algorithm is proposed to solve [...] Read more.
Unmanned surface vehicle (USV) formation is a hot topic of current research. Path planning is the core technology for USV formation. This paper focuses on a USV formation path planning problem considering kinetic constraints. Firstly, an improved A* algorithm is proposed to solve the point-to-point path planning of a USV considering kinetic constraints. In this algorithm, the yaw constraint is introduced on top of the position constraint to extend the state space of the USV to three dimensions, and the convergence speed is accelerated by building a heuristic map. The dynamics model of the USV is used to generate the minimum trajectory elements to ensure that the path conforms to the kinetic constraints. Secondly, the mathematical model of USV formation based on the virtual structure method is established, and the path planning scheme of formation navigation and formation reconfiguration is given according to the improved A* algorithm. Finally, we carry out a USV model identification experiment for SL900 USV and simulation experiments based on the model. The experimental results show that the output path of the proposed method is smoother compared with the traditional method. This method can provide a globally safe path with kinetic constraints for USV formation navigation and formation reconstruction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

25 pages, 6765 KiB  
Article
Real-Time Emergency Collision Avoidance for Unmanned Surface Vehicles with COLREGS Flexibly Obeyed
by Yang Qu and Lilong Cai
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(12), 2025; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10122025 - 18 Dec 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1586
Abstract
This paper presents a real-time emergency collision-avoidance method for unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) with the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS) flexibly obeyed. The pivotal issue is that some traffic vessels may violate the demands of this convention, which would increase [...] Read more.
This paper presents a real-time emergency collision-avoidance method for unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) with the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS) flexibly obeyed. The pivotal issue is that some traffic vessels may violate the demands of this convention, which would increase the risk of collision if the USV blindly obeys the COLREGS rules. To avoid mandatory compliance with these COLREGS rules, a real-time truncated velocity obstacle (TVO) algorithm is proposed to assign a collision-free velocity vector for the control system to realize. Considering a reasonable trade-off between safety and the COLREGS rules, the proposed collision-avoidance method expands the TVO’s area based on the velocity uncertainties of traffic vessels, which greatly enhance the safety of collision-avoidance operations and encourage the USV to follow the COLREGS rules. To promptly realize an assigned collision-free velocity, this paper also develops a discrete simultaneous planning and executing (SPAE) controller design. The proposed discrete controller is divided into three parts: online polynomial planning to satisfy the constraints of tracking errors, an accurate uncertainty estimation, and an algebraic control law to promptly execute the planned polynomial. Numerical results have validated the reliability and intelligibility of the proposed collision-avoidance method. Furthermore, simulated and experimental results have validated the effectiveness of the proposed controller design. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

27 pages, 4030 KiB  
Article
An Open-Source Benchmark Simulator: Control of a BlueROV2 Underwater Robot
by Malte von Benzon, Fredrik Fogh Sørensen, Esben Uth, Jerome Jouffroy, Jesper Liniger and Simon Pedersen
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(12), 1898; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10121898 - 5 Dec 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4505
Abstract
This paper presents a simulation model environment for the popular and low-cost remotely operated vehicle (ROV) BlueROV2 implemented in Simulink™ which has been designed and experimentally validated for benchmark control algorithms for underwater vehicles. The BlueROV2 model is based on Fossen’s equations and [...] Read more.
This paper presents a simulation model environment for the popular and low-cost remotely operated vehicle (ROV) BlueROV2 implemented in Simulink™ which has been designed and experimentally validated for benchmark control algorithms for underwater vehicles. The BlueROV2 model is based on Fossen’s equations and includes a kinematic model of the vehicle, the hydrodynamics of vehicle and water interaction, a dynamic model of the thrusters, and, lastly, the gravitational/buoyant forces. The hydrodynamic parameters and thruster model have been validated in a test facility. The benchmark model also includes the ocean current, modeled as constant velocity. The tether connecting the ROV to the top-site facility has been modeled using the lumped mass method and is implemented as a force input to the ROV model. At last, to show the usefulness of the benchmark model, a case study is presented where a BlueROV2 is deployed to inspect an offshore monopile structure. The case study uses a sliding mode controller designed for the BlueROV2. The controller fulfills the design criteria defined for the case study by following the provided trajectory with a low error. It is concluded that the simulator establishes a benchmark for future control schemes for position control and trajectory tracking under the influence of environmental disturbances. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 2808 KiB  
Article
Fault-Tree-Analysis-Based Health Monitoring for Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
by Sungil Byun, Mayorkinos Papaelias, Fausto Pedro García Márquez and Dongik Lee
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(12), 1855; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10121855 - 2 Dec 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2832
Abstract
Undersea terrain and resource exploration missions using autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) require a great deal of time. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the state of the AUV in real time during the mission. In this paper, we propose an online health-monitoring method [...] Read more.
Undersea terrain and resource exploration missions using autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) require a great deal of time. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the state of the AUV in real time during the mission. In this paper, we propose an online health-monitoring method for AUVs using fault-tree analysis. The entire system is divided into four subsystems. Fault trees of each subsystem are designed based on the information of performance and reliability. Using the given subsystem fault trees, the health status of the entire system is evaluated by considering the performance, reliability, fault status, and weight factors of the parts. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through simulations with various scenarios. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

12 pages, 1810 KiB  
Article
Guidance-Based Path Following of an Underactuated Ship Based on Event-Triggered Sliding Mode Control
by Yuxi Zhang and Yong Liu
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(11), 1780; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10111780 - 18 Nov 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1312
Abstract
In this paper, the path following of an underactuated ship as a fundamental application for autonomous sailing in seaways is studied. First, the guidance system based on the line of sight (LOS) method is established to handle underactuated dynamics of ship motion. Then, [...] Read more.
In this paper, the path following of an underactuated ship as a fundamental application for autonomous sailing in seaways is studied. First, the guidance system based on the line of sight (LOS) method is established to handle underactuated dynamics of ship motion. Then, path following control is converted to heading control with fewer dimensions. Second, the extended state observer (ESO) is used to observe unknown dynamics of ship motion. Third, the sliding mode control method is highly robust to external disturbance and is employed to design the controller. Fourth, the event-triggered mechanism (ETM) is included to reduce the trigger time. All the closed-loop signals are shown to be bounded by the Lyapunov theory. Simulations are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

23 pages, 7091 KiB  
Article
Design of Combined Neural Network and Fuzzy Logic Controller for Marine Rescue Drone Trajectory-Tracking
by Duc-Anh Pham and Seung-Hun Han
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(11), 1716; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10111716 - 10 Nov 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2611
Abstract
In recent years, the research on drones has increased rapidly because of its high applicability in many fields and its great development potential. In the maritime sector too, especially marine rescue, a Drone with a compact size and fast flight speed is an [...] Read more.
In recent years, the research on drones has increased rapidly because of its high applicability in many fields and its great development potential. In the maritime sector too, especially marine rescue, a Drone with a compact size and fast flight speed is an effective solution in search and surveillance, giving quick results and being very convenient. When operating at sea, marine rescue drones are often affected by the environment, especially wind, which leads to turbulence that causes the drone to deviate from its predetermined flight trajectory. To overcome the above problem, the author has proposed the application of a Neural-Fuzzy controller for unmanned marine rescue aircraft presented in this paper introduces a controller that combines neural networks and fuzzy controllers that enhance the efficiency of the drone’s trajectory tracking. The paper presents the mathematics of a quadcopter described by the Newton-Euler equations. Presentation on stable flight control and trajectory control of marine rescue drones. In this paper, Matlab/Simulink is used to describe the operation of the Drone, and the characteristics obtained after using the simulation are used to compare, test, and analyze the system. The obtained results show that the Neural-Fuzzy controller is much more sensitive, more resistant to turbulence, and can be used on different sizes, weights, and configurations of drones without adjusting PID gain. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 21720 KiB  
Article
SMURF: A Fully Autonomous Water Surface Cleaning Robot with A Novel Coverage Path Planning Method
by Jiannan Zhu, Yixin Yang and Yuwei Cheng
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(11), 1620; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10111620 - 1 Nov 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 11473
Abstract
In recent years, more attention has been paid to water surface environment protection. Current water surface waste cleaning mainly relies on manual operations, which are low-efficiency and dangerous. Therefore, in this paper, we design a fully autonomous water surface cleaning robot, SMURF, which [...] Read more.
In recent years, more attention has been paid to water surface environment protection. Current water surface waste cleaning mainly relies on manual operations, which are low-efficiency and dangerous. Therefore, in this paper, we design a fully autonomous water surface cleaning robot, SMURF, which achieves high-efficiency water surface cleaning without human operation and adapts to be used in various types of real-world water bodies. In addition, we propose a novel coverage path planning method on water surfaces and an improved nonlinear model predictive controller. The real-world experiment shows that SMURF works well in different kinds of water bodies and achieves much higher efficiency than traditional water surface cleaning methods. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

49 pages, 16928 KiB  
Article
Nature-Inspired Design and Advanced Multi-Computational Investigations on the Mission Profile of a Highly Manoeuvrable Unmanned Amphibious Vehicle for Ravage Removals in Various Oceanic Environments
by Vijayanandh Raja, Senthil Kumar Madasamy, Parvathy Rajendran, Sangeetha Ganesan, Dharshini Murugan, Hussein A. Z. AL-bonsrulah and Mohammed Al-Bahrani
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(11), 1568; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10111568 - 22 Oct 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2392
Abstract
Recent large-scale operations, including frequent maritime transportation and unauthorised as well as unlawful collisions of drainage wastes, have polluted the ocean’s ecology. Due to the ocean’s unsuitable ecology, the entire globe may experience drastic aberrant conditions, which will force illness onto all living [...] Read more.
Recent large-scale operations, including frequent maritime transportation and unauthorised as well as unlawful collisions of drainage wastes, have polluted the ocean’s ecology. Due to the ocean’s unsuitable ecology, the entire globe may experience drastic aberrant conditions, which will force illness onto all living things. Therefore, an advanced system is very necessary to remove the undesired waste from the ocean’s surface and interior. Through the use of progressive unmanned amphibious vehicles (UAV), this study provides a dynamic operational mode-based solution to damage removal. In order to successfully handle the heavy payloads of ravage collections when the UAV reveals centre of gravity concerns, a highly manoeuvrable-based design inspired by nature has been imposed. The ideal creatures to serve as the inspiration for this piece are tropical birds, which have a long tail for navigating tricky situations. The design initialization was carried out by focusing on the outer body of tropical birds. Following this, special calculations were conducted and the full design parameters of the UAV were established. This study proposes a unique mathematical formulation for the development of primary and secondary design parameters of an UAV. The proposed mission profile of this application is computationally tested with the aid of sophisticated computational methodologies after the modelling of this UAV. The computational methods that are required are one-way coupling-based hydro-structural interaction assessments and computational hydrodynamic analyses. Computing is used to determine the aerodynamic and hydrodynamic forces over the UAV, the lightweight materials to withstand high fluid dynamic loads, and the buoyancy forces to complete the UAV components. These computational methods have been used to produce a flexible and fine-tuned UAV design for targeted real-time applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

18 pages, 19435 KiB  
Article
Development of a Structural-Functional Approach for Heterogeneous Glider-Type Marine Robotic Complexes’ Group Interaction to Solve Environmental Monitoring and Patrolling Problems
by Dmitry Nikushchenko, Andrey Maevskiy, Igor Kozhemyakin, Vladimir Ryzhov, Artem Goreliy and Timofey Sulima
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(10), 1531; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10101531 - 19 Oct 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1632
Abstract
Glider-type autonomous underwater vehicles are today one of the most promising areas of marine robotics. This is confirmed by the frequent and remarkable results of various research missions and projects. The cumulative group application of underwater and no less innovative wave gliders can [...] Read more.
Glider-type autonomous underwater vehicles are today one of the most promising areas of marine robotics. This is confirmed by the frequent and remarkable results of various research missions and projects. The cumulative group application of underwater and no less innovative wave gliders can significantly reduce the time of obtaining oceanographic data. Together with wave gliders, one group of such robotic objects can significantly increase the efficiency, time and volume of obtaining oceanographic data. There is big interest in increasing the functionality of such a group. This article presents one of the possible alternatives to increase the functionality of a group of underwater and waveguide hang gliders. We present the process of upgrading the existing design, control algorithms and software of the SHADOW underwater glider, which was developed by the teams of the St. Petersburg State Marine Technical University (SMTU) and Okeanos JSC in order to jointly study the monitoring of underwater potentially dangerous objects with the St. Petersburg State Fire Service EMERCOM of Russia. A structural-functional approach to the group application of underwater and waveguides is also proposed, which is capable of providing oceanographic, meteorological and environmental monitoring data online, based on the developed multilayer system for planning the trajectories of group movement of objects. The results of full-scale sea trials and the developed algorithms are demonstrated. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 4812 KiB  
Article
AUV Path Planning Algorithm for Terrain Aided Navigation
by Wenjun Zhang, Peng Shen, Haodong Qi, Qianyi Zhang, Teng Ma and Ye Li
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(10), 1393; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10101393 - 29 Sep 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1520
Abstract
Terrain aided navigation (TAN) technology can yield accurate navigation results in long-endurance underwater operation of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). Most TAN research focus on the high-precision terrain matching algorithms. However, terrain matching algorithms estimate the position of the vehicle by observing a unique [...] Read more.
Terrain aided navigation (TAN) technology can yield accurate navigation results in long-endurance underwater operation of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). Most TAN research focus on the high-precision terrain matching algorithms. However, terrain matching algorithms estimate the position of the vehicle by observing a unique combination of features in the terrain, making it difficult to locate a vehicle with flat terrain. This paper presents a path planning method for AUV seabed TAN process to decrease positioning errors by avoiding flat areas. In this paper, a TAN path planning algorithm based on sector search is proposed. Parameters of the sector search algorithm are determined through theoretical analysis, which means the generated path can stably provide accurate TAN location results. Meanwhile, a control coefficient is proposed to maximize the terrain information contained in the sector searching area, bring out a high success rate of AUV positioning. The TAN performance of the paths generated using the proposed path planning method was verified in simulations, which show that the TAN can yield accurate positioning results stably on the path planned. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

22 pages, 7577 KiB  
Article
Design and Control of an Underwater Robot Based on Hybrid Propulsion of Quadrotor and Bionic Undulating Fin
by Xiaofeng Zeng, Minghai Xia, Zirong Luo, Jianzhong Shang, Yuze Xu and Qian Yin
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(9), 1327; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10091327 - 19 Sep 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4326
Abstract
Stable, quiet, and efficient propulsion methods are essential for underwater robots to complete their tasks in a complex marine environment. However, with a single propulsion method, such as propeller propulsion and bionic propulsion, it is difficult to achieve high efficiency and high mobility [...] Read more.
Stable, quiet, and efficient propulsion methods are essential for underwater robots to complete their tasks in a complex marine environment. However, with a single propulsion method, such as propeller propulsion and bionic propulsion, it is difficult to achieve high efficiency and high mobility at the same time. Based on the advantages of the high-efficiency propulsion of a bionic undulating fin and the stable control of the propeller, an underwater robot based on the hybrid propulsion of a quadrotor and undulating fin is proposed in this paper. This paper first introduces the mechanical implementation of the underwater robot. Then, based on kinematic modeling and theoretical derivation, the underwater motion and attitude of the robot are analyzed and the 6-DOF dynamic equation of the robot is established. Finally, the underwater motion performance of the robot is verified through field experiments. The experimental results show that the robot can realize the heave motion, surge motion, and in-situ steering motion independently and can hover stably. When the undulating frequency is 6 Hz, the maximum propulsion speed of the robot can reach up to 1.2 m/s (1.5 BL/s). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

23 pages, 1248 KiB  
Article
Extended State Observer-Based Parameter Identification of Response Model for Autonomous Vessels
by Man Zhu, Wuqiang Sun, Yuanqiao Wen and Liang Huang
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(9), 1291; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10091291 - 13 Sep 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1510
Abstract
Identification of parameters involved in the linear response model with high precision is a highly cost-effective, as well as a challenging task, in developing a suitable model for the verification and validation (V+V) of some key techniques for autonomous vessels in the virtual [...] Read more.
Identification of parameters involved in the linear response model with high precision is a highly cost-effective, as well as a challenging task, in developing a suitable model for the verification and validation (V+V) of some key techniques for autonomous vessels in the virtual testbed, e.g., guidance, navigation, and control (GNC). In order to deal with this identification problem, a novel identification framework is proposed in this paper by introducing the extended state observer (ESO), and the well-evaluated robust weighted least square support vector regression algorithm (RW-LSSVR). A second-order linear response model is investigated in this study due to its wide use in controller designs. Considering the highly possible situation that only limited states could be measured directly, the required but immeasurable states in identifying parameters contained in the response model are approximately estimated by the ESO. Theoretical analysis of the stability is given to show and improve the applicability of the ESO. Simulation studies based on linear response models with predefined parameter values of a cargo vessel and a patrol vessel maneuvering in an open water area are carried out, respectively. Results show that the proposed approach not only estimates immeasurable states with high accuracy but also ensures good performance on the parameter identification of the response model with very close values to the nominal ones. The proven identified approach is economic because it only requires limited kinds of low-cost sensors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

23 pages, 30385 KiB  
Article
Binocular-Vision-Based Obstacle Avoidance Design and Experiments Verification for Underwater Quadrocopter Vehicle
by Meiyan Zhang, Wenyu Cai, Qinan Xie and Shenyang Xu
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(8), 1050; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10081050 - 30 Jul 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1785
Abstract
As we know, for autonomous robots working in a complex underwater region, obstacle avoidance design will play an important role in underwater tasks. In this paper, a binocular-vision-based underwater obstacle avoidance mechanism is discussed and verified with our self-made Underwater Quadrocopter Vehicle. The [...] Read more.
As we know, for autonomous robots working in a complex underwater region, obstacle avoidance design will play an important role in underwater tasks. In this paper, a binocular-vision-based underwater obstacle avoidance mechanism is discussed and verified with our self-made Underwater Quadrocopter Vehicle. The proposed Underwater Quadrocopter Vehicle (UQV for short), like a quadrocopter drone working underwater, is a new kind of Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), which is equipped with four propellers along the vertical direction of the robotic body to adjust its body posture and two propellers arranged at the sides of the robotic body to provide propulsive and turning force. Moreover, an underwater binocular-vision-based obstacle positioning method is studied to measure an underwater spherical obstacle’s radius and its distance from the UQV. Due to its perfect ability of full-freedom underwater actions, the proposed UQV has obvious advantages such as a zero turning radius compared with existing torpedo-shaped AUVs. Therefore, one semicircle-curve-based obstacle avoidance path is planned on the basis of an obstacle’s coordinates. Practical pool experiments show that the proposed binocular vision can locate an underwater obstacle accurately, and the designed UQV has the ability to effectively avoid multiple obstacles along the predefined trajectory. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 85951 KiB  
Article
A Lightweight Sea Surface Object Detection Network for Unmanned Surface Vehicles
by Zhangqi Yang, Ye Li, Bo Wang, Shuoshuo Ding and Peng Jiang
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(7), 965; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10070965 - 14 Jul 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2346
Abstract
For unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), perception and control are commonly performed in embedded devices with limited computing power. Sea surface object detection can provide sufficient information for USVs, while most algorithms have poor real-time performance on embedded devices. To achieve real-time object detection [...] Read more.
For unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), perception and control are commonly performed in embedded devices with limited computing power. Sea surface object detection can provide sufficient information for USVs, while most algorithms have poor real-time performance on embedded devices. To achieve real-time object detection on the USV platform, this paper designs a lightweight object detection network based on YOLO v5. In our work, an improved ShuffleNet v2 based on the attention mechanism was adopted as a backbone network to extract features. The depth-wise separable convolution module was introduced to rebuild the neck network. Additionally, the fusion method was changed from Concat to Add to optimize the feature fusion module. Experiments show that the proposed method reached 32.64 frames per second (FPS) on the Nvidia Jetson AGX Xavier and achieved a mean average precision (mAP) of 93.1% and 93.9% on our dataset and Singapore Maritime Dataset, respectively. Moreover, the number of model parameters of the proposed network was only 25% of that of YOLO v5n. The proposed network achieves a better balance between speed and accuracy, which is more suitable for detecting sea surface objects for USVs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

21 pages, 10002 KiB  
Article
Formation Control of Multiple Autonomous Underwater Vehicles under Communication Delay, Packet Discreteness and Dropout
by Liang Li, Yiping Li, Yuexing Zhang, Gaopeng Xu, Junbao Zeng and Xisheng Feng
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(7), 920; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10070920 - 3 Jul 2022
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 2171
Abstract
Effective communication between multiple autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) is necessary for formation control. As the most reliable underwater communication method, acoustic communication still has many constraints compared with radio communication, which affects the effectiveness of formation control. Therefore, this paper proposes a formation [...] Read more.
Effective communication between multiple autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) is necessary for formation control. As the most reliable underwater communication method, acoustic communication still has many constraints compared with radio communication, which affects the effectiveness of formation control. Therefore, this paper proposes a formation control scheme for multiple AUVs under communication delay, packet discreteness and dropout. Firstly, the communication delay is estimated based on the kernel density estimation method. To solve the problem of packet discreteness and dropout, the curve fitting method is used to predict the states of the AUV. Secondly, a follower controller is designed based on the leader–follower approach using input–output feedback linearization, which is proven to be stable with Lyapunov stability theory. Then, some simulation results are presented to demonstrate the stability and accuracy of the formation control in different communication environments. Finally, the field tests on the lake show that the scheme introduced in this paper is valid and practical. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

23 pages, 8760 KiB  
Article
Study on Position and Shape Effect of the Wings on Motion of Underwater Gliders
by Jiafeng Huang, Hyeung-Sik Choi, Mai The Vu, Dong-Wook Jung, Ki-Beom Choo, Hyun-Joon Cho, Phan Huy Nam Anh, Ruochen Zhang, Jung-Hyeun Park, Joon-Young Kim and Huy Ngoc Tran
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(7), 891; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10070891 - 28 Jun 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1785
Abstract
A typical structure of an underwater glider (UG) includes a pair of fixed wings, and the hydrodynamic force driving the glider forward as descending or ascending in the water is generated primarily by the fixed wings. In this paper, a simplified glider motion [...] Read more.
A typical structure of an underwater glider (UG) includes a pair of fixed wings, and the hydrodynamic force driving the glider forward as descending or ascending in the water is generated primarily by the fixed wings. In this paper, a simplified glider motion model was established to analyze the dynamics in an easier way, and whose simulation results do not differ from the original one. Also, in the paper, the effects of the wing position and wing shape on the UG to the motion were studied. Since no direct analytic approach cannot be performed, the case study of the effects of six different wing positions and three wing shapes on gliding performances which are gliding speed, gliding angle and gliding path were performed through computer simulation. The simulation results revealed that when the fixed wing is located far from the buoyancy center to the tail end, more traveling range is achieved with less energy. Also, effect of the shape difference of the wings were analyzed. Shape changes did not show much difference on the travelling performance of the UG. In addition to these, the transient mode of the UG was studied. To control this, the PID controller for the position of the mass shifter and piston were applied. By application of the PID controller to the linearized dynamics equations, it was shown that the transient behavior of the UG was quickly and steadily controlled. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

11 pages, 2904 KiB  
Article
Dexterity Based Viscous Resistance Optimization of a Deep-Sea Manipulator
by Yunfei Bai, Qifeng Zhang and Aiqun Zhang
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(7), 876; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10070876 - 26 Jun 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1289
Abstract
With persistent ocean exploration, the complexity of deep-sea intervention is gradually increasing. The deep-sea manipulator is the primary tool to complete complex intervention. The manipulator dexterity determines the complexity of the task it can perform. First, a dynamic dexterity evaluation method is proposed [...] Read more.
With persistent ocean exploration, the complexity of deep-sea intervention is gradually increasing. The deep-sea manipulator is the primary tool to complete complex intervention. The manipulator dexterity determines the complexity of the task it can perform. First, a dynamic dexterity evaluation method is proposed based on the kinematics and dynamics characteristics of the deep-sea manipulator. This method takes into account the dynamic torque boundary and Jacobian mapping constraint, which are different from terrestrial manipulators. The concepts of the dynamic dexterity ellipsoid and dynamic dexterity measure are defined. Second, the effect of viscosity resistance on dexterity is analyzed. The viscosity resistance is optimized by selecting the most suitable compensation oil. Finally, the methods of dynamic dexterity evaluation and viscosity resistance optimization are verified by a simulated deep-sea experiment. The method proposed in this paper effectively improves the dynamic dexterity of the deep-sea manipulator by optimizing the viscosity resistance. The proposed method can also be used to evaluate and improve the dexterity of other underwater manipulators. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

20 pages, 6578 KiB  
Article
Improved Integral Sliding Mode Control-Based Attitude Control Design and Experiment for High Maneuverable AUV
by Ziqiang Liu, Wenyu Cai, Meiyan Zhang and Shuaishuai Lv
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(6), 795; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10060795 - 9 Jun 2022
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 1928
Abstract
The Autonomous Underwater Vehicle’s body attitude has a great influence on some specific underwater tasks, such as topographic prospecting, target detection, etc. Therefore, this paper investigates an improved integral sliding mode control (IISMC)-based attitude controller for AUV with model uncertainties and external disturbances [...] Read more.
The Autonomous Underwater Vehicle’s body attitude has a great influence on some specific underwater tasks, such as topographic prospecting, target detection, etc. Therefore, this paper investigates an improved integral sliding mode control (IISMC)-based attitude controller for AUV with model uncertainties and external disturbances to improve the ability of attitude tracking for AUV. To reduce the influence of strong interference on the integral term, the Gaussian function is introduced in integral sliding mode controller. Moreover, the Lyapunov function is used to prove the stability of IISMC-based attitude control law. Finally, the numerical simulations on MATLAB/Simulink are provided to demonstrate the proposed IISMC has smaller tracking error and converges faster than Sliding Mode Control (SMC) and Integral Sliding Mode Control (ISMC)-based attitude-control laws under different disturbances. Better yet, the effectiveness of the proposed IISMC-based attitude control law is tested in field experiments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 3889 KiB  
Article
Camera-LiDAR Cross-Modality Fusion Water Segmentation for Unmanned Surface Vehicles
by Jiantao Gao, Jingting Zhang, Chang Liu, Xiaomao Li and Yan Peng
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(6), 744; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10060744 - 28 May 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2111
Abstract
Water segmentation is essential for the autonomous driving system of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), which provides reliable navigation for making safety decisions. However, existing methods have only used monocular images as input, which often suffer from the changes in illumination and weather. Compared [...] Read more.
Water segmentation is essential for the autonomous driving system of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), which provides reliable navigation for making safety decisions. However, existing methods have only used monocular images as input, which often suffer from the changes in illumination and weather. Compared with monocular images, LiDAR point clouds can be collected independently of ambient light and provide sufficient 3D information but lack the color and texture that images own. Thus, in this paper, we propose a novel camera-LiDAR cross-modality fusion water segmentation method, which combines the data characteristics of the 2D image and 3D LiDAR point cloud in water segmentation for the first time. Specifically, the 3D point clouds are first supplemented with 2D color and texture information from the images and then distinguished into water surface points and non-water points by the early 3D cross-modality segmentation module. Subsequently, the 3D segmentation results and features are fed into the late 2D cross-modality segmentation module to perform 2D water segmentation. Finally, the 2D and 3D water segmentation results are fused for the refinement by an uncertainty-aware cross-modality fusion module. We further collect, annotate and present a novel Cross-modality Water Segmentation (CMWS) dataset to validate our proposed method. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first water segmentation dataset for USVs in inland waterways consisting of images and corresponding point clouds. Extensive experiments on the CMWS dataset demonstrate that our proposed method can significantly improve image-only-based methods, achieving improvements in accuracy and MaxF of approximately 2% for all the image-only-based methods. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Other

Jump to: Research

12 pages, 1843 KiB  
Technical Note
Improved Baited Remote Underwater Video (BRUV) for 24 h Real-Time Monitoring of Pelagic and Demersal Marine Species from the Epipelagic Zone
by Alejandro Prat-Varela, Agusti Torres, Daniel Cervantes, Marc Aquino-Baleytó, Ana-Maria Abril and Eric E. G. Clua
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(6), 1182; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11061182 - 6 Jun 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2174
Abstract
Bait-based remote underwater video (BRUV) systems are effective devices for remotely observing fish and other marine organisms in challenging environments. The development of a long duration (24 h) surface BRUV observation surveys allowed the monitoring of scarce and elusive pelagic sharks and the [...] Read more.
Bait-based remote underwater video (BRUV) systems are effective devices for remotely observing fish and other marine organisms in challenging environments. The development of a long duration (24 h) surface BRUV observation surveys allowed the monitoring of scarce and elusive pelagic sharks and the direct impact on non-targeted species of longline fishing in the Western Mediterranean. Technological limitations, such as the limited storage capacity and a single surface camera, were improved by (i) adding a deep camera equipped with light (below 80 m depth) and (ii) replacing Gopros with a multi-camera video surveillance system (surface and depth) with a storage capacity of several days and access to real-time observation. Based on a deployment effort of 1884 h video data, we identified 11 blue sharks (Prionace glauca) and one bluntnose sixgill shark (Hexanchus griseus), a deep-sea species that scarcely swims at the surface. The real-time observation capability was a powerful tool for reducing logistical costs and for raising environmental awareness in educational and outreach programmes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Marine Vehicles, Automation and Robotics)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-34
Back to TopTop