Propeller-driven underwater glider modelling and motion control

A propeller-driven underwater glider is a new class of glider that acts like a conventional autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). It is a part of our hybrid-driven USM underwater glider that can be propelled using buoyancy and/or propeller. A hybrid-driven underwater glider is a new and practical underwater platform, which combines the features of a conventional underwater glider and autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), with the addition of controllable wings and a rudder. This paper focuses on the mathematical model and motion control simulation for a propeller-driven underwater glider, which has moving wings and a rudder that can be controlled independently. We have derived the mathematical model of the underwater glider with 6 degrees of freedom (6-DOF) based on Newton-Euler approach, and have estimated the hydrodynamics coefficients based on the Slender-body theory. The simulation results demonstrate the glider's motion, in the openloop and closed-loop control, when the desired angle of external actuators (wings and rudder) is entered as the control input. A Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) controller is used to obtain better control performance over the glider's states feedback. The results show that the model is stable and that the controller performance is satisfactory.