Autonomous marine vehicles (AMVs), including autonomous surface and underwater vehicles, are versatile means to explore, exploit, monitor, and protect marine resources and environments. Motion control is a fundamental enabling technique for state-of-the-art AMV development. Especially, guidance is a critical component in AMV motion control. In recent years, line-of-sight (LOS) guidance, as an efficient guidance method, has attracted tremendous interest from both theoretical and practical perspectives. In this paper, an overview of recent advances in LOS guidance for AMV path following is provided. First, a control objective for the path following of an AMV with a kinematic model is specified. Next, major LOS guidance laws for path following are reviewed in detail. Then, LOS guidance laws applicable to coordinated path following of multiple AMVs are elaborated. Finally, six challenging issues for future research are addressed.

Advances in Line-of-Sight Guidance for Path Following of Autonomous Marine Vehicles: An Overview

Uninterrupted path planning system for Multi-USV sampling mission in a cluttered ocean environment

USV path planning method with velocity variation and global optimisation based on AIS service platform

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are considered a promising example of an automatic emergency task in a dynamic marine environment. However, the maritime communication performance between UAVs and offshore platforms has become a severe challenge. Due to the complex marine environment, the task allocation and route planning efficiency of multiple UAVs in an intelligent ocean are not satisfactory. To address these challenges, this paper proposes an intelligent marine task allocation and route planning scheme for multiple UAVs based on improved particle swarm optimization combined with a genetic algorithm (GA-PSO). Based on the simulation of an intelligent marine control system, the traditional particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm is improved by introducing partial matching crossover and secondary transposition mutation. The improved GA-PSO is used to solve the random task allocation problem of multiple UAVs and the two-dimensional route planning of a single UAV. The simulation results show that compared with the traditional scheme, the proposed scheme can significantly improve the task allocation efficiency, and the navigation path planned by the proposed scheme is also optimal.

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Task allocation and route planning of multiple UAVs in a marine environment based on an improved particle swarm optimization algorithm

Autonomous marine vehicles (AMVs), including autonomous surface and underwater vehicles, are versatile means to explore, exploit, monitor, and protect marine resources and environments. Motion control is a fundamental enabling technique for state-of-the-art AMV development. Especially, guidance is a critical component in AMV motion control. In recent years, line-of-sight (LOS) guidance, as an efficient guidance method, has attracted tremendous interest from both theoretical and practical perspectives. In this paper, an overview of recent advances in LOS guidance for AMV path following is provided. First, a control objective for the path following of an AMV with a kinematic model is specified. Next, major LOS guidance laws for path following are reviewed in detail. Then, LOS guidance laws applicable to coordinated path following of multiple AMVs are elaborated. Finally, six challenging issues for future research are addressed. 

The hybrid path planning algorithm based on improved A* and artificial potential field for unmanned surface vehicle formations

Adaptive path following control for Wave gliders in time-varying environment

The invention discloses a quick installation mechanism for a flexible cable of a wave glider. The mechanism comprises a semicircular handle, a switch limiting block, circular shafts, lever clamps, a rotating shaft, magnet shells, magnets, a cable connector, a primary shell and an auxiliary shell; the switch limiting block moves upwards along a guide rail of the switch limiting block; the lower ends of the lever clamps are open because of the repulsive force of the magnets so as to realize detachment of the cable connector; the opening positions of the lever clamps are limited by the primary shell and the auxiliary shell; the switch limiting block moves downwards to press the top ends of the lever clamps; the lower ends of the lever clamps are closed because of the top ends are pressed; theswitch limiting block moves downwards to an extreme position, a screw is screwed in, and the closed state of the lower ends of the lever clamps is locked to realize the installation of the cable connector; the mechanism has the advantages that the accuracy and stability of cable connector installation are realized; a cable through channel is reserved to limit the position of a cable and protect the cable; and the cable connector can be installed and detached through simple operations.

Quick installation mechanism for flexible cable of wave glider

Aiming at the problems of difficult attitude stabilization, low landing accuracy, large external disturbance and slow dynamic response during the quadrotor dynamic landing on the wave glider, an improved series active disturbance rejection control method for the quadrotor is proposed. The quadrotor controller with inner-loop attitude angular velocity control and outer-loop position control based on the active disturbance rejection controller (ADRC) is designed by analyzing the dynamic model of the quadrotor. A tracking differentiator (TD) is adopted to track the input signal, and an expansive state observer (ESO) is used to estimate the total disturbance. Moreover, a nonlinear law state error feedback (NLSEF) is used to generate the virtual control volume of the system to realize the control of the quadrotor, and the stability of the cascaded self-turbulent controller is verified by Lyapunov’s theory. The simulation verifies that the proposed controller can accurately control the attitude and the position with better anti-interference capability and faster tracking speed. According to the final sea trial, a combination of an active disturbance rejection controller optimized with improved crow search algorithm (ICADRC) and April Tag visual reference system is used to land the quadrotor efficiently and successfully even under the surface float attitude uncertainty.

Dynamic Landing Control of a Quadrotor on the Wave Glider

The invention discloses a cable connector connecting mechanism suitable for a wave glider and particularly relates to a cable connector connecting mechanism suitable for the wave glider and a flexiblelocating buoy. The cable connector connecting mechanism comprises two parts: a two-degree-of-freedom floating body cable connection rotating mechanism and a two-degree-of-freedom tractor cable connection rotating mechanism, wherein the two-degree-of-freedom floating body cable connection rotating mechanism is used for connecting a water surface floating body with an NACA cable connector; the two-degree-of-freedom tractor cable connection rotating mechanism is used for connecting an underwater tractor with the NACA cable connector. According to the cable connector connecting mechanism disclosed by the invention, the problem that a flat cable between the water surface floating body and the underwater tractor is internally broken due to repeated dragging and long-time torsion is solved, thesteering capability of the wave glider is improved, long-time real-time communication between dual bodies of the wave glider can be realized, and further the reliability, the safety and the flexibility of the wave glider are improved.

Zhou Ying

Papers

The hybrid path planning algorithm based on improved A* and artificial potential field for unmanned surface vehicle formations

Adaptive path following control for Wave gliders in time-varying environment

Quick installation mechanism for flexible cable of wave glider

Dynamic Landing Control of a Quadrotor on the Wave Glider

Cable connector connecting mechanism suitable for wave glider