The project V-fides: A new generation AUV for deep underwater exploration, operation and monitoring

Abstract

The proposed work is in the framework of the V-Fides project, aiming at developing a new generation of agile, over-actuated, long endurance Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, for deep underwater exploration, operation and monitoring. The project is co-funded by Tuscany Region (Italy) and is developed by a team lead by WASS S.p.A. (Whitehead Sistemi Subacquei, Livorno) with the participation of several partners including two research institutions of the University of Pisa and Small-Medium Enterprises in the Pisa-Livorno area. The vehicle is a general purpose, 3000m depth rated underwater vehicle with highly maneuverability capabilities, which can operate both as AUV and ROV. The vehicle is equipped with seven thrusters, with asymmetric input-output characteristic, and with a sensors payload for autonomous navigation, composed by: a tactical grade Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), a Doppler Velocity Logger (DVL), a depth sensor, a magnetic compass and an acoustic modem for underwater communication and localization. This contribution gives an overview of the developed general architecture of the Navigation and Control module of the vehicle, from the algorithmic and system implementation stand-points

Comparison between Optimal Control Allocation with Mixed Quadratic & Linear Programming Techniques

“…The following section presents the simulations of the vehicle developed within V-Fides Project, presented in Caiti et al (2014), a 3000m deep rated and over-actuated AUV for exploration and environmental monitoring. The proposed control allocation methods: pseudo-inverse (2), QP (6), LP (7), MIQP (10) and MILP (11) have been tested, compared and evaluated on such simulations.…”

“…The following metrics are used for comparison: the maximum attainable forces and torques, the integral of the error allocation and the required thrusters effort. The test case vehicle is the one developed within V-Fides Project and illustrated in Caiti et al (2014). The vehicle simulator handles the hydrodynamic forces, kinematic equations, system control with allocation module and a detailed characteristic of actuators response.…”

Desenvolvimento de veículos autônomos submarinos para aplicações oceanográficas.

“…Outras aplicações de AUVs que foram encontradas são apresentadas na Tabela 3. Alguns trabalhos tratam também do desenvolvimento de veículos para ambientes específicos, como operação sob geleiras [40,41] e operações em altas profundidades [40,39,42,54,88,89,90,91,92,49,61,93].…”

“…Detecção de fenômenos [48] Exploração e mapeamento [49], [50], [26], [51], [52], [53], [54], [55], [56], [57], [58] Monitoramento ambiental [49], [59], [60], [61], [28], [62], [58], [38] Estudos de planktons [63], [19], [20], [64], [48], [15], [65], [66], [1], [67], [2], [20] Análise de qualidade de água [48], [15], [51], [68], [36], [69], [60], [54], [55], [28], [56] Coleta de amostras de água [15], [69], [70], [19], [20] Tabela 3 -Outras aplicações de AUVs encontradas.…”

“…100m [76], [86], [81], [113], [22], [43], [83], [59] 200m [98], [75], [70], [114], [74], [71], [45] 500m [107], [115], [53], [110] 1000m [49], [73] 2000m [109], [100] 3000m [93], [91], [94], [97], [55], [51], [61], [54], [46] 3500m [90] 4000m [40] 6000m [89], [84] 11000m [42]…”