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Automatic control of a ROV for inspection of underwater structures using a low-cost sensing

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Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This work deals with the implementation of a position and orientation automatic control of an underwater vehicle to perform inspection tasks of submerged structures without using the knowledge of a previous dynamic model in the control law and, mainly, by using a low-cost embedded minimal instrumentation. This instrumentation does not employ expensive components to determine the position and orientation of the vehicle, like a central inertial. In this way, a computer vision system is used as a sensory source in order to assist the control. It was developed an algorithm to image processing and a system for integrating the different sensors. Experimental results using the proposed sensing show that the closed-loop control of the vehicle was suitable for the conduction of inspections.

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Abbreviations

e :

Error signal sampled

f :

Focal distance

Z :

Distance between target and the camera

k :

Distance between the lens and the focal point

Ki :

Integral gain

Kd :

Derivative gain

Kp :

Proportional gain

N :

Number of elements in the forgetting window

u :

Control action

Width :

Width of the target

px:

Relative to the image pixels

s:

Relative to the surge motion controller

tgt:

Relative to the target

y:

Relative to the yaw motion controller

1:

Relative to the first parameters of the camera

2:

Relative to the second parameters of the camera

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Coordenadoria de Automação Industrial, Instituto Federal Sul-Rio-Grandense, Camaquã, RS, 96180-000, Brazil

    Vinícius Nizolli Kuhn

  2. Centro de Ciências Computacionais, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Rio Grande, RS, 96201-900, Brazil

    Paulo Lilles Jorge Drews Jr. & Silvia Silva da Costa Botelho

  3. Estatística e Física, Instituto de Matemática, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Rio Grande, RS, 96201-900, Brazil

    Sebastião C. Pinheiro Gomes

  4. Grupo de Pesquisa em Automação e Controle, Instituto Federal Sul-Rio-Grandense, Pelotas, RS, 96015-360, Brazil

    Mauro André Barbosa Cunha

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  1. Vinícius Nizolli Kuhn
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  2. Paulo Lilles Jorge Drews Jr.
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  3. Sebastião C. Pinheiro Gomes
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  5. Silvia Silva da Costa Botelho
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Correspondence to Vinícius Nizolli Kuhn.

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Technical Editor: Glauco Cauring.

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Kuhn, V.N., Drews, P.L.J., Gomes, S.C.P. et al. Automatic control of a ROV for inspection of underwater structures using a low-cost sensing. J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng. 37, 361–374 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-014-0153-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-014-0153-z

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