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Communication and control of a remotely operated underwater vehicle, using a distributed architecture approach

Communication and control of a remotely operated underwater vehicle, using a distributed architecture approach
Communication and control of a remotely operated underwater vehicle, using a distributed architecture approach

Remotely Operated underwater Vehicles (ROVs) have been used in the oil industry since the 1970's. With the increase in the availability and complexity of instruments that can be fitted to the vehicles, the ability to modify the configuration becomes critical. By using a distributed communication architecture, where various functions of the vehicle are separated into several independent units, it becomes possible to interchange units more easily.

After a review of the available networking techniques, a particular solution has been selected, and used in a prototype vehicle. The vehicle has been tested successfully in water trials. A particular problem occurring with networks over which dynamic control systems operate was highlighted : if a control system was to be established over the network, the variation of the transportation delay could cause the controller to fail. For example, with a network node used for gathering heading data and another network node used for driving the thrusters, the time it takes for the heading data and thruster command data to be received depends highly on the behaviour of the other nodes present on the network.

In order to establish how this delay varies, a simulation of the network has been created, allowing for various configurations to be investigated.

To achieve total flexibility, it should be possible to keep the same controller for a control system running over the network, whatever the sate of the network configuration. Such a controller is implemented by using a recursive least square estimator, the results of which are used to estimate the delay. The value of the delay is then used to tune the parameters of a PID controller. This self-tuning controller has been successfully tested both in simulation and experiments.

University of Southampton
Rolland, Stéphanie Michelle
0f70b896-9c35-492a-99f2-94cb12567d10
Rolland, Stéphanie Michelle
0f70b896-9c35-492a-99f2-94cb12567d10

Rolland, Stéphanie Michelle (2000) Communication and control of a remotely operated underwater vehicle, using a distributed architecture approach. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

Remotely Operated underwater Vehicles (ROVs) have been used in the oil industry since the 1970's. With the increase in the availability and complexity of instruments that can be fitted to the vehicles, the ability to modify the configuration becomes critical. By using a distributed communication architecture, where various functions of the vehicle are separated into several independent units, it becomes possible to interchange units more easily.

After a review of the available networking techniques, a particular solution has been selected, and used in a prototype vehicle. The vehicle has been tested successfully in water trials. A particular problem occurring with networks over which dynamic control systems operate was highlighted : if a control system was to be established over the network, the variation of the transportation delay could cause the controller to fail. For example, with a network node used for gathering heading data and another network node used for driving the thrusters, the time it takes for the heading data and thruster command data to be received depends highly on the behaviour of the other nodes present on the network.

In order to establish how this delay varies, a simulation of the network has been created, allowing for various configurations to be investigated.

To achieve total flexibility, it should be possible to keep the same controller for a control system running over the network, whatever the sate of the network configuration. Such a controller is implemented by using a recursive least square estimator, the results of which are used to estimate the delay. The value of the delay is then used to tune the parameters of a PID controller. This self-tuning controller has been successfully tested both in simulation and experiments.

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Published date: 2000

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 464210
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/464210
PURE UUID: d385393b-f664-4903-923e-f61b3dde7601

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Date deposited: 04 Jul 2022 21:34
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 19:20

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Contributors

Author: Stéphanie Michelle Rolland

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