In this paper we present an experimental platform for relative attitude control of spacecraft. The platform is part of the AUVSAT project at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, a project with the goal of creating an underwater experimental laboratory for formation control of underwater vehicles and spacecraft. In the following we present the design and the specifications leading...

Underwater vehicles are expected as the attractive tools for the operation in the extreme environment such as the deep ocean survey. In order to realize the useful and practical robots, which can work in the ocean, underwater vehicles should take their action by judging the changing condition from their own sensors and actuators, and are desirable to make their behavior with limited efforts of ...

The control design for unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) is challenging due to the uncertainties in the complex dynamic modeling of the vehicle as well as its unstructured operational environment. To cope with these difficulties, a practical robust control is therefore desirable. The paper deals with the application of coefficient diagram method (CDM) for a robust control design of an autonom...

This paper reports the development and field testing of DVLNAV, an interactive program for precision three-dimensional navigation of underwater vehicles. We report the results of preliminary field trials of DVLNAV with the Jason II underwater robot. The performance of bottom lock doppler navigation is evaluated with respect to long baseline acoustic navigation.

Underwater Acoustic methods have been extensively used to locate and identify marine objects. These applications include locating underwater vehicles, finding shipwrecks, imaging sediments and imaging bubble fields. Ocean is fairly transparent to sound and opaque to all other sources of radiation. Acoustics technology is the most effective tool for monitoring this environment because of the sou...

In this work, we build on our earlier results and accomplishments in understanding, modeling and controlling underwater glider dynamics (YIP Grant # N00014-98-1-0649). The focus is on dedicated gliding vehicles that have the ability to change mass (or volume) for buoyancy control and to redistribute mass (and possibly control a rudder) for attitude control. The framework consists of a dynamical...

This paper describes a feasibility study that is included with the research, development and testing of a micro communications sonobuoy deployable by Maritime Fixed wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (M-UAV) and rotor wing Quad Copters which are both currently being developed by the University of Adelaide. The micro communications sonobuoy is developed to act as a seamless communication relay betwee...

Glider class autonomous underwater vehicles operate and collect water column data for long periods of time, even weeks, before the need for recovery. However, they possess only rudimentary navigation and localization capabilities. Gliders are under-actuated vehicles and prone to water currents disturbances hence their localization error increase significantly while dead-reckoning underwater. In...

The development of accurate control systems for underwater robotic vehicles relies on the adequate compensation of thruster dynamics. Without compensation, the closed-loop positioning system can exhibit limit cycles. This undesired behaviour may compromise the overall system stability. In this work, a fuzzy sliding-mode compensation scheme is proposed for electrically actuated bladed thrusters,...

This paper discusses the use of distributed autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) for multistatic processing and tracking of underwater target. A localized processing chain is implemented on each AUV to generate the contact report of an underwater target that is transmitted to a command center via underwater acoustic communications (UWA). The contact reports from several AUVs are combined toget...