A hybrid approach for designing the control system for underwater vehicles

Abstract

An approach in the form of an automatic evolutionary design environment for obtaining any type of control systems for underwater vehicles is presented. A specific case is considered in which this strategy is hybridized with Artificial Neural Networks. The design procedure is carried out by means of evolutionary techniques from a set of specifications using as a fitness evaluator an ad-hoc hydrodynamic simulator which includes the estimation of added mass and added inertia coefficients. The resulting design environment was used to construct the neural network based controllers of a submersible catamaran. Results of the application of the automatic design procedure and of the operation of the controllers thus obtained are presented. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.