Development of an Autonomous Underwater Helicopter with High Maneuverability

Abstract

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) are the mainstream equipment for underwater scientific research and engineering. However, it remains a great challenge for AUVs to carry out near-seabed operations because of their poor maneuverability. In this paper, a new design for a high-maneuverability disc-shaped AUV is proposed, namely, the Autonomous Underwater Helicopter (AUH). We designed the AUH’s propulsion system through dynamic analysis based on the unique disc shape. The experimental prototype was built by mechatronics technology, after which several motion experiments were carried out to demonstrate the high maneuverability. We find that the prototype has high maneuverability: it can cruise at 0.8 m/s (about 1.5 knots), at least; its turning radius is zero and its turning speed is at least 20 deg/s; and the motion of specific curves in a small range was completed. It is demonstrated that over-actuation is not necessary for the high-maneuverability AUH because of its unique disc shape. A propulsion system consisting of four propellers and a buoyancy adjustment system is used for the highly maneuverable AUH. In addition, the AUH may be a solution for near-seafloor operations.

Design of a Disc-Shaped Autonomous Underwater Helicopter with Stable Fins

“…In this vehicle, the ratio is 1.82, this suboptimal disc shell would cause instability in attitude control. The ratio in the previous work [16] is 2.3, which can be considered as an ideal ratio, and it used four thrusters for four DOFs control. In [17], the vehicle is spherical and uses eight thrusters for six DOFs control.…”

“…To meet the needs of near-seafloor and under-ice observations, further research and exploit the properties of the disc shape, Chen first proposed the concept of the autonomous underwater helicopter (AUH) in 2017 [6]. It is a new member of the AUV family with a unique disc shape; much research has been conducted over the last few years such as parametric design [14], wave impact [15], and so on [16]. This vehicle does not need to move to stay submerged compared with traditional AUVs.…”

Study on the Motion Stability of the Autonomous Underwater Helicopter

“…Finally, according to Routh's stability criterion [30], the stability of the two shapes of the AUH in the horizontal and vertical planes is determined. Numerical simulation using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software is widely used in research on the hydrodynamic characteristics of AUVs [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21], such as the effects of free-stream turbulence, hydrodynamic force coefficients, hydrodynamic characteristics of AUV over seabed [22][23][24], etc. For the AUH, Chen et al applied both CFD results and the Routh stability criterion to identify the AUH motion stability [25].…”

Design and Development of an Autonomous Underwater Helicopter for Ecological Observation of Coral Reefs

“…In view of the problems mentioned above, a seafloor-resident mobile observation platform, Coral-AUH, is designed and developed in this paper. As a disk-shaped underwater vehicle, the AUH has experienced several generations of iteration and come into application in various fields [12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Coral-AUH inherits the super maneuverability and seafloor-resident capability; meanwhile, it carries a camera and multiple sensors to detect environmental data such as pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity and chlorophyll in real time, which helps scientists to determine the health status of corals more accurately.…”