• Journal of Advanced Research in Ocean Engineering
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.94-105
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• 2015

In this study, a thruster allocation method of a deep-sea working vessel was proposed with the aims of producing the demanded generalized forces and moment for dynamic positioning while at the same time minimizing total power. For this, an optimization problem for thrust allocation was mathematically formulated with design variables, objective function, and constraints. The genetic algorithms (GA) was used to solve the formulated problem. The proposed method was applied to an example of finding optimal thrust allocation of the deep-sea working vessel having 5 thrusters. The result showed that the method could be used to determine better strategy for thruster allocation of the vessel as compared to existing study.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.217-225
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• 2016

Dynamic Positioning (DP) is used to automatically maintain the position and heading of a floating structure subjected to environmental disturbances. A DP control system is composed of a motion controller to compute the desired force and moment and a thrust allocator to distribute the computed force and moment to multiple thrusters considering mechanical and operational constraints. Among various thruster configurations, azimuth thrusters or propeller/rudder pairs tend to make the allocation problem difficult to solve, because these types of propulsion systems include nonlinear constraints. In this paper, a dynamic positioning strategy for a twin-thruster ship that is propelled by two azimuthing thrusters is addressed, and a thrust allocation method which does not require a numerical optimization solver is proposed. The applicability of the proposed method is demonstrated with an experiment using an autonomous boat.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.32-38
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• 2020

This paper describes a method for tracking attitude and position of underwater robots. Underwater work with underwater robots is subject to differences in work efficiency depending on the skill of the operator and the utilization of additional sensors. Therefore, this study developed an underwater robot that can operate autonomously and maintain a certain attitude when working underwater to reduce difference of work efficiency. The developed underwater robot uses 8 thrusters to control 6 degrees of freedom motion, IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit), DVL (Doppler Velocity Log) and PS (Pressure Sensor) to measure attitude and position. In addition, the thruster allocation algorithm was designed to follow the control desired value using 8 thrusters, and the motion control experiments were performed in the engineering water basin using the thruster allocation method.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.129-137
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• 2016

In the present study we verified performance of feed-forward control algorithm using short term prediction of ship motion information by taking advantage of developed numerical simulation model of FPSO motion. Up until now, various studies have been conducted about thrust control and allocation for dynamic positioning systems maintaining positions of ships or marine structures in diverse sea environmental conditions. In the existing studies, however, the dynamic positioning systems consist of only feedback control gains using a motion of vessel derived from environmental loads such as current, wind and wave. This study addresses dynamic positioning systems which have feedforward control gain derived from forecasted value of a motion of vessel occurred by current, wind and wave force. In this study, the future motion of vessel is forecasted via Brown's Exponential Smoothing after calculating the vessel motion via a selected mathematical model, and the control force for maintaining the position and heading angle of a vessel is decided by the feedback controller and the feedforward controller using PID theory and forecasted vessel motion respectively. For the allocation of thrusts, the Lagrange Multiplier Method is exploited. By constructing a simulation code for a dynamic positioning system of FPSO, the performance of feedforward control system which has feedback controller and feedforward controller was assessed. According to the result of this study, in case of using feedforward control system, it shows smaller maximum thrust power than using conventional feedback control system.

• The Journal of Korea Robotics Society
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.39-47
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• 2020

This paper presents a control and operation system for a remotely operated vehicle (ROV). The ROV used in the study was equipped with a manipulator and is being developed for underwater exploration and autonomous underwater working. Precision position and attitude control ability is essential for underwater operation using a manipulator. For propulsion, the ROV is equipped with eight thrusters, the number of those are more than six degrees-of-freedom. Four of them are in charge of surge, sway, and yaw motion, and the other four are responsible for heave, roll, and pitch motion. Therefore, it is more efficient to integrate the management of the thrusters rather than control them individually. In this paper, a thrust allocation method for thruster management is presented, and the design of a feedback controller using sensor data is described. The software for the ROV operation consists of a robot operating system that can efficiently process data between multiple hardware platforms. Through experimental analysis, the validity of the control system performance was verified.

• Proceedings of the Korea Committee for Ocean Resources and Engineering Conference
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.359-362
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• 2006

This study develops an automatic berthing control algorithm for ships with a bow thruster and a stern thruster as well as a rudder. A nonlinear mathematical model for low speed maneuvering of ships is used to develop a MIMO(multi-input multi-output) nonlinear control algorithm. The algorithm consists of two parts, which are forward velocity control and heading angle control. The control algorithm is designed based on the longitudinal and yaw dynamic models of ships. The desired heading angle is obtained by the so called "Line of Sight" method. An optimal control force allocation method of the rudder and the thrusters is suggested. The nonlinear control algorithms are tested by numerical simulations using MATLAB, and shows good tracking performances.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.68-75
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• 2018

This study deals with the heading angle and depth keeping control technique for an ROV with multiple horizontal and vertical thrusters by thrust allocation. The light work class ROV URI-L, which is under development at KRISO, is a redundant actuating system with multiple thrusters that are larger than the ROV's degree of freedom. In the redundant actuating system, there are several solutions for a specific ROV motion to be performed. Therefore, a thrust allocation algorithm that considers the entire propulsion system should be regarded as important. First, this paper describes the propulsion system of the ROV and introduces the thrust allocation method of each motion controller. In addition, the performance of the controller is examined using a heading angle and depth keeping control test in a stationary state.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.76-83
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• 2005

Thrusters are important actuators where air is rare. Since the maintenance or replacement of thrusters is not easy in such an environment, a thrusting system must be highly reliable. Redundant thrusters are used to meet the reliability requirement. In this paper, a reconfiguration problem for those redundant thrusters is discussed, especially the management or distribution logic of redundant thrusters is focused on. The logic has to be changed if faults occur at thrusters. Reconfiguration is to change the distribution logic to accommodate thrusters' faults. The authors propose a reconfiguration algorithm based on the linear programming method. The authors define the reconfiguration problem as an optimization problem. The performance index is a quantity related with total fuel consumption by thrusters. This algorithm can accommodate multiple faults. Numerical examples are given to show the advantage of the proposed algorithm over existing methods.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.236-242
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• 2005

Dynamic Positioning(DP) system maintains ship's position (fixed location or predetermined track) exclusively by means of CPPs and thrusters. To generate the control input adequate to various situation an integrated controller for CPPs and thrusters is required. The integrated controller is composed of a thrust calculation algorithm and a thrust allocation algorithm. The thrust calculation algorithm generates thrusts in the surge direction and the sway direction from the desired forward and lateral speed and generates a moment about the yaw axis from desired heading angle. The thrust allocation algorithm allocates the generated thrusts and moment to each CPP and thruster. Computer simulations are executed to confirm the effectiveness of the suggested controller.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.37-43
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• 2011

Lunar exploration program has been prepared with the aim of launch in the 2020's. As part of it, a lunar lander demonstrator has been developed which is the model for verifying all the system, such as structure, propulsion and control system before launch to deep space. After verifying all the system, the demonstrator will be evaluated by flight test. This paper deals with path tracking controller based on thrusters for the demonstrator. For this, first we derive equations of motion according to the allocation of thrusters and design the path tracking controller. The signal generated from the controller is continuous so PWPF(Pulse-Width Pulse-Frequency) modulator is adopted for generating on/off signal. Finally MATLAB simulation is performed for evaluating the path tracking ability and the final landing velocity.