Structural parameter identification of a small robotic underwater vehicle

Abstract

This paper deals with estimating structural parameters of robotic underwater vehicle (submarine) that cannot be easily measured and determined analytically. The robotic submarine was designed for visual inspection and ultrasonic testing of submerged technologies such as tanks with slowly flowing liquid. The identification procedure contains two strategies which are able to find the structural, especially hydrodynamic parameters of a given model. These parameters are then used for stability and motion control design. The validation of gained model parameters was verified in software Simulink/SimMechanics, where the outputs of the model were compared with vehicle prototype responses.