• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.488-498
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• 2015

This paper presents the dynamic model of an AUV called HW200 for underwater surveillance. The mathematical model of HW200 is briefly introduced, considering its shape. The maneuvering coefficients were initially estimated using empirical formulas and a database of vehicles with similar shapes. A motion simulator, based on Simulink of Mathworks, was developed to evaluate the mathematical model of the vehicle and to tune the maneuvering coefficients. The parameters were finely tuned by comparing the experimental results and simulated responses generated with the simulator by applying the same control inputs as the experiment. The velocity of HW200 in the tuning process was fixed at a constant forward speed of 1.83 m/s. Simulations with variable speed commands were conducted, and the results showed good consistency in the motion response, attitude, and velocity of the vehicle, which were similar to those of the experiment even under the speed variation. This paper also discusses the feasibility of its application to a model-based integrated navigation system (INS) using the auxiliary information on the velocities generated by the model.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.08a
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• pp.1116-1120
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• 2004

In the nuclear power plant, there are several cylindrical vessels such as reactor vessel, pressuriser and so on. The vessels are usually constructed by welding large rolled plates, forged sections or nozzle pipes together. In order to assure the integrity of the vessel, these welds should be periodically inspected using sensors such as ultrasonic transducer or visual cameras. This inspection is usually conducted under water to minimize exposure to the radioactively contaminated vessel walls. The inspections have been performed by using a conventional inspection machine with a big structural sturdy column, however, it is so huge and heavy that maintenance and handling of the machine are extremely difficult. It requires much effort to transport the system to the site and also requires continuous use of the utility's polar crane to move the manipulator into the building and then onto the vessel. Setup beside the vessel requires a large volume of work preparation area and several shifts to complete. In order to resolve these problems, we have developed an underwater mobile robot guided by the laser pointer, and performed a series of experiments both in the mockup and in the real reactor vessel. This paper introduces our robotic inspection system and the laser guidance of the mobile robot as well as the results of the functional test.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1999.10a
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• pp.9-12
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• 1999

This paper presents the development of a control architecture for the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) with VARIVEC (variable vector) propeller. Moreover this paper also describes the new technique of controlling the servomotors using the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The AUVs are being currently used fur various work assignments. For the daily measuring task, conventional AUV are too large and too heavy. A small AUV will be necessary for efficient exploration and investigation of a wide range of a sea. AUVs are in the phase of research and development at present and there are still many problems to be solved such as power resources and underwater data transmission. Further, another important task is to make them smaller and lighter for excellent maneuverability and low power. Our goal is to develop a compact and light AUV having the intelligent capabilities. We employed the VARIVEC propeller system utilizing the radio control helicopter elements, which are swash plate and DC servomotors. The VARIVEC propeller can generate six components including thrust, lateral force and moment by changing periodically the blade angle of the propeller during one revolution. It is possible to reduce the number of propellers, mechanism and hence power sources. Our control tests were carried out in an anechoic tank which suppress the reflecting effects of the wall surface. We tested the developed AUV with required performance. Experimental results indicate the effectiveness of our approach. Control of VARIVEC propeller was realized without any difficulty.

• Transactions on Control, Automation and Systems Engineering
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.264-269
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• 2002

In this paper, Η$_{\infty}$ depth and course controller of an AUV(Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) using Η$_{\infty}$ servo control is proposed. The Η$_{\infty}$ servo problem is formulated to design the controllers satisfying a robust tracking property with modeling errors and disturbances. The solution of the Η$_{\infty}$ servo problem is as fellows: first, this problem is modified as an Η$_{\infty}$ control problem for the generalized plant that includes a reference input mode, and then a sub-optimal solution that satisfies a given performance criteria is calculated by LMI(Linear Matrix Inequality) approach. The Η$_{\infty}$ depth and course controller are designed to satisfy with the robust stability about the modeling error generated from the perturbation of the hydrodynamic coefficients and the robust tracking property under disturbances(wave force, wave moment, tide). The performances of the designed controllers are evaluated with computer simulations, and finally these simulation results show the usefulness and application of the proposed Η$_{\infty}$ depth and course control system.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.215-215
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• 2000

In this paper, depth and course controllers of autonomous underwater vehicles using H$_{\infty}$ servo control are proposed. An H$_{\infty}$ servo problem is formulated to design the controllers satisfying a robust tracking property with modeling errors and disturbances. The solution of the H$_{\infty}$ servo problem is as follows: first, this problem is modified as an H$_{\infty}$ control problem for the generalized plant that includes a reference input mode, and then a sub-optimal solution that satisfies a given performance criteria is calculated by LMI(Linear Matrix Inequality) approach. The H$_{\infty}$ depth and course controllers ate designed to satisfy with the robust stability about the modeling error generated from the perturbation of the hydrodynamic coefficients and the robust tracking property under disturbances(wave force, wave moment, tide). The performances(the robustness to the uncertainties, depth and course tracking properties) of the designed controllers are evaluated with computer simulations, and finally these simulation results show the usefulness and application of the proposed H$_{\infty}$ depth and course control systems.

• International Journal of Control, Automation, and Systems
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.217-224
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• 2005

Generally, the underwater flight vehicle (UFV) depth control system operates with the following problems: it is a multi-input multi-output (MIMO) system because the UFV contains both pitch and depth angle variables as well as multiple control planes, it requires robustness because of the possibility that it may encounter uncertainties such as parameter variations and disturbances, it requires a continuous control input because the system that has reduced power consumption and acoustic noise is more practical, and further, it has the speed dependency of controller parameters because the control forces of control planes depend on the operating speed. To solve these problems, an adaptive fuzzy sliding mode controller (AFSMC), which is based on the decomposition method using expert knowledge in the UFV depth control and utilizes a fuzzy basis function expansion (FBFE) and a proportional integral augmented sliding signal, is proposed. To verify the performance of the AFSMC, UFV depth control is performed. Simulation results show that the AFSMC solves all problems experienced in the UFV depth control system online.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1993.10a
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• pp.299-303
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• 1993

In an underwater vehicle, the navigation error is mostly caused by the initial misalignment, the bias of a gyro and an accelerometer, and the sea current. Therefore, it is important that these error sources are estimated and compensated in order to reduce the navigation error. In this paper, the E.M.Log aided SDINS is designed by using the E.M.Log which measures the forward velocity of a vehicle. And the system error state equation and the measurement equation are derived and the suboptimal Kalman Filter is established for this aided SDINS. The simulation result showed that this had an important role in estimating and compensating these error sources, thus reducing the navigation error of an underwater vehicle.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1992.10a
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• pp.766-771
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• 1992

The hydrodynamic coefficients estimation problem is important to develop an underwater vehicle and design a controller for it. In this paper, an identification theory, the Extended Kalman Filter, is applied to this parameter estimation problem. In the case that a process noise is not used, all of the parameters are almost exactly converged to the true values respectively. When a process noise is used, all of the parameters are converged to the true values, too, although some parameter estimates are slightly biased. The comparisons of the two trajectories between those generated by the true parameters and those by the estimated parameters show that the parameter estimation problem is well-solved.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.8
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• pp.1669-1676
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• 2020

The IAEA held the IAEA Robotics Challenge 2017 (IRC2017) to protect workers during inspections of spent nuclear fuel and to improve work efficiency and accuracy rates. To this end, we developed an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) system called the spent fuel check vehicle (SCV). The SCV extracts and tracks the target through image processing, and it is necessary to find suitable parameters for the SNF storage environment in advance. This preliminary work takes time. It is also difficult to prepare the environment in which the work will proceed. In addition, if the preliminary work does not proceed as planned, the system will not move at the proper speed and will become unstable, with yawing and overshoot. To solve this problem, we developed a controller with a camera that can extract the depth at which the target is stored and allow distance-adaptive control. This controller is able to attenuate system instability factors such as yawing and overshoot better than existing controllers by continuously changing system operation parameters according to the depth. In addition, the time required for preliminary work during inspections can be shortened.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.315-323
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• 2017

This paper presents an integrated navigation system that combines ultra-short baseline (USBL), Doppler velocity log (DVL), and heading measurements for a deep-sea remotely operated vehicle, Hemire. A navigation model is introduced based on the kinematic relation of the position and velocity. The system states are predicted using the navigation model and corrected with the USBL, DVL, and heading measurements using the Kalman filter. The performance of the navigation system was confirmed through re-navigation simulations with the measured data at the Southern Mariana Arc submarine volcanoes. Based on the characteristics of the measurements, the design process for the parameters of the system modeling error covariance, measurement error covariance, and initial error covariance are presented. This paper reviews the influence of the outliers and blackout of the USBL and DVL measurements, and proposes an outlier rejection algorithm that is robust to USBL blackout. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated with re-navigation for the data that includes USBL blackouts.