Modelling, manoeuvring analysis and course following for two unmanned surface vehicles driven by a single propeller and double propellers

This paper describes the development of two unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), driven by either a single propeller (called as USBV-I) or double propellers (called as USBV-II), for modelling, manoeuvring analysis, course following and experiments at the First Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration in China. First, the two USVs are presented. Second, a dynamics model is derived for the USVs based on three degrees-of-freedom equations, which differs from other works in the drag terms. The manoeuvring performance of the two USVs is evaluated and compared for both straight line and circular motion using simulations and experiments, which indicate that the manoeuvrability of USBV-II is superior. Using the identified model for USV-II from experiments´ data, the simulation for course following are implemented. Finally, course following lake experiments are performed for USBV-II using a digital compass and indicate that it has a good course following performance.