Modeling and motion control of a riverine autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) with differential thrust

It is challenging that Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) navigated in the riverine environment since the unknown and unstructured waterway, and the non-uniform riverbanks makes the waterway tracking difficult. This paper presents a catamaran type Autonomous Surface vessel (ASV) for autonomous bathymetry survey and environmental monitoring at riverine areas. The ASV is equipped without rudder, thus it is driven by differential thrust to control the speed and heading. The theoretical 3 DOF model of ASV and differential thrust steering dynamics is discussed. The aim is to perform the visual navigation that track along with the river by keeping in the center of river. Meanwhile, the speed is required to vary with the width of river to avoid collision. In order to perform the control aims, a balance control scheme is designed. The results indicate that the proposed control scheme is successful for the navigation task.