Trajectory control of deep sea vehicle “OTOHIME”

In those days, survey of deep sea floor is increasing importance and many kinds of facility are using for it. Autonomous under water vehicle (AUV) is one of the facilities and thought to be most effective method than remotely operated vehicle (ROV) or human operated vehicle. The main function of AUV is to design navigation course for survey by itself and complete the mission with keeping the course. However actual method for it is not established yet. Then we put the target of this study on developing this function for under water vehicle “OTOHIME” in Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC). At first, we made mathematical model of its motion with not complete 6(six) degree of freedom (DOF) but restricted DOF which is effective to actual motion. They are very simple and easy to determine the parameters. Then we discussed how to control the vehicle motion and confirmed the performance with simulation. The results showed good performances. We are intending to confirm the results with the experiments using “OTOHIME” and expand autonomous functions for effective use of it.