• IEMEK Journal of Embedded Systems and Applications
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.105-112
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• 2017

To control the depth of an underwater glider, a control method by using Lyapunov's direct method is proposed. The underwater glider has a torpedo-shape hull, a movable mass in the hull, and an inflatable buoyancy bag in the hull, but doesn't have large wings that increase the lift force for the conventional underwater glider. The control laws to adjust the position of the movable mass and the mass of the inflatable buoyancy bag are derived. For a selected speed and an angle of attack, we simulated the operation of the underwater glider using Matlab/Simulink. The efficiency of the proposed controller is shown in the fact that the control effort is active during only a short period of time when the zigzag trajectory is changed from downward to upward or vice versa.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.865-874
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• 2019

A controller for an underwater glider is presented. Considered underwater glider is a torpedo-shaped autonomous underwater vehicle installing adjustable buoyancy bag and movable battery in it. The controller is composed of an LQR controller to maintain zigzag vertical movement for gliding and two PD controllers to control elevator/rudder angles. The LQR controller controls the pumping speed into the buoyancy bag and the moving speed to locate the battery. One of the PD controller controls the elevator angle to assist the LQR controller, and the other controls the rudder angle to adjust the direction of the underwater glider. A reduced order Luenberger observer is adopted to estimates the center of gravity of the glider and the buoyancy mass that are essential but cannot be measured. Mathematical simulation using Matlab proved the validity of the proposed controller to obtain better performance than conventional LQR only controller under the influence of sea current.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.995-1006
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• 2015

Underwater glider, as a new kind of autonomous underwater vehicles, has many merits such as long-range, extended-duration and low costs. The shape of underwater glider is an important factor in determining the hydrodynamic efficiency. In this paper, a high lift to drag ratio configuration, the Blended-Wing-Body (BWB), is used to design a small civilian under water glider. In the parametric geometric model of the BWB underwater glider, the planform is defined with Bezier curve and linear line, and the section is defined with symmetrical airfoil NACA 0012. Computational investigations are carried out to study the hydrodynamic performance of the glider using the commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code Fluent. The Kriging-based genetic algorithm, called Efficient Global Optimization (EGO), is applied to hydrodynamic design optimization. The result demonstrates that the BWB underwater glider has excellent hydrodynamic performance, and the lift to drag ratio of initial design is increased by 7% in the EGO process.

• Journal of Advanced Research in Ocean Engineering
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.25-31
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• 2017

Generally, underwater gliders do not have separate propellers for their forward movement. They derive a propulsive force due to the difference between their buoyancy and gravity. The attitude of an underwater glider is controlled by changing the relative position of the buoyancy center and mass center. In this study, we derived nonlinear 6-DOF dynamic and mathematical models for the motion controller and buoyancy controller. Using these equations, we performed dynamic underwater glider simulations and verified the suitability of the design and dynamic performance of the proposed underwater glider.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.318-328
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• 2018

Disk type underwater gliders are a new type of underwater gliders and they could glide in various directions by adjusting the internal structures, making a turnaround like conventional gliders unnecessary. This characteristic of disk type underwater gliders makes them have great potential application in virtual mooring. Considering dynamic models of conventional underwater gliders could not adequately satisfy the motion characteristic of disk type underwater gliders, a nonlinear dynamic model for the motion simulation of disk type underwater glider is developed in this paper. In the model, the effect of internal masses movement is taken into consideration and a viscous hydrodynamic calculation method satisfying the motion characteristic of disk type underwater gliders is proposed. Through simulating typical motions of a disk type underwater glider, the feasibility of the dynamic model is validated and the disk type underwater glider shows good maneuverability.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.65 no.12
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• pp.2037-2045
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• 2016

This paper presents a fuzzy-model-based design approach to the buoyancy and moment controls of a class of nonlinear underwater glider. Through the linearization and the sector nonlinearity methodologies, the underwater glider dynamics is represented by a Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy model. Sufficient conditions are derived to guarantee the asymptotic stability of the closed-loop system in the format of linear matrix inequality (LMI). Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed buoyancy and moment controllers for the underwater glider.

• IEMEK Journal of Embedded Systems and Applications
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.311-318
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• 2017

A reduced order observer is developed for depth control of a hybrid underwater glider which combines the good aspects of a conventional autonomous underwater vehicle and a underwater glider. State variables include the center of gravity of the robot and the weight of the buoyancy bag, which can not be directly measured. By using the mathematical model and available information such as directional velocities, accelerations, and attitudes, we developed a Luenberger's reduced order observer to estimate the center of gravity and the buoyancy weight. By simulations using Matlab/Simulink, the efficiency of the proposed observer is shown, where a LQR controller using full state variables is adopted as a depth controller.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.119-125
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• 2014

A vertical planar motion mechanism(VPMM) test was used to increase the prediction accuracy for the maneuverability of an underwater glider model. To improve the accuracy of the linear hydrodynamic coefficients, the analysis techniques of a pure heave test and pure pitch test were developed and confirmed. In this study, the added mass and damping coefficient were measured using a VPMM test. The VPMM equipment provided pure heaving and pitching motions to the underwater glider model and acquired the forces and moments using load cells. As a result, the hydrodynamic coefficients of the underwater glider could be acquired after a Fourier analysis of the forces and moments. Finally, a motion control simulation was performed for the glider control system, and the results are presented.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.107-121
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• 2013

The underwater glider is an autonomous vehicle that can glide through the ocean interior by using a pair of wings attached to its body and can move up and down through the water column by changing its buoyancy. As of now, there are three widely-used gliders, namely, the Spray that was co-developed by Scripps Oceanographic Institution and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Slocum produced by the Webb Research Cooperation, and the Seaglider that was produced by the University of Washington. In this paper, I will introduce these three gliders and discuss the principles and procedures related to glider operation as well as the application and extendability of modern physical and bio-geochemical sensors to gliders. My experiences in developing a glider for measuring ocean turbulence and testing it 7 times during 12 days are shared in this paper. On the basis of my experiences and knowledge, different kinds of aspects that should be considered for successful glider operation are discussed. In addition, a suggestion is made as to what would be the ideal way to operate underwater gliders in the East/Japan Sea. At the end, the current status of active glider operation teams is presented and the efforts to proceed toward future gliders are briefly introduced.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.67 no.2
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• pp.261-269
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• 2018

In this paper, we propose a Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy-model-based design for the tracking control of a class of nonlinear underwater glider. By using the partial linearization and the sector nonlinearity, the underwater glider with six degrees of freedom (6 DOF) is modelled by the T-S fuzzy model. The concerned tracking control problem with $H_{\infty}$ performance is converted into the stabilization one for the error dynamics between the given nonlinear underwater glider and the reference time-varying input. Sufficient conditions are derived for the asymptotic stabilizability of the error dynamics in the format of matrix inequality. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed design methodology.