Title: Research on motion control of an autonomic launch and recovery device for unmanned surface vehicle

Authors: Xiaomao Li; Xingang Jiang; Yang Yang; Yan Peng; Songyi Zhong; Huayan Pu; Shaorong Xie; Jun Luo

Addresses: School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China ' School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China ' School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China ' School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China ' School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China ' School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China ' School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China ' School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China

Abstract: In this study, a floating bracket device with visual inspection technology is developed for the autonomous launch and recovery of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs). To improve the success rate of docking between USVs and brackets in the recovery process, a reasonable controller is proposed to realise the position/posture regulation of the bracket. The state space equation is used to establish a system model, and the specific parameters are identified by using collected motion data. A sectional-type control framework is designed by model predictive control (MPC), which can satisfy the control requirements in different motion stages. The simulation results verify the accuracy of the identification model and the rationality of the MPC controller. The docking experiments demonstrate that the floating bracket with the proposed control system can be applied to launch and recovery missions of USVs.

Keywords: USV; unmanned surface vehicles; floating bracket; launch and recovery; autonomic; motion control; model predictive; parameter identification.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVD.2020.115839

International Journal of Vehicle Design, 2020 Vol.84 No.1/2/3/4, pp.5 - 27

Received: 28 Oct 2019
Accepted: 30 Dec 2019
Published online: 25 Jun 2021 *

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