Controller design for underwater vehicle systems with communication constraints
Author(s)
Reed, Brooks Louis-Kiguchi
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Other Contributors
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Advisor
Franz S. Hover and Dana R. Yoerger.
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Show full item recordAbstract
Real-time cooperation between autonomous vehicles can enable time-critical missions such as tracking and pursuit of a dynamic target or environmental feature, but relies on wireless communications. Underwater, communication over distances beyond about one hundred meters is almost exclusively accomplished through acoustics, which bring challenges such as propagation delays, low data rates, packet loss, and scheduling constraints due to interference and limited bandwidth. These limitations make underwater pursuit missions preeminent applications of networked control. Motivated by such applications, this thesis presents contributions towards multi-vehicle feedback control in the presence of severe communication constraints. The first major area of work considers the formulation and solution of new underwater multi-vehicle tracking and pursuit problems using closed-loop control. We begin with a centralized robust optimization approach for multicast routing and power control which is suitable for integration with vehicle control. Next, we describe field experiments in range-based target pursuit at high tracking bandwidths in a challenging shallow-water environment. Finally, we present a methodology for pursuit of dynamic ocean features such as fronts, which we validate using hindcast ocean model data. The primary innovation is a projection algorithm which carries out linearization of ocean model forecast dynamics and uncertainty directly in vehicle coordinates via a forward model technique. The resulting coupled linear stochastic system is suitable for networked control. The second area of work presents a unified formalism for multi-vehicle control and estimation with measurement, control, and acknowledgment packets all subject to scheduling, delays and packet loss. The modular framework we develop is built around a jump linear system description incorporating receding horizon optimization and buffering at actuators. Integration of these elements enables synthesis of a novel technique for estimation using delayed and lossy control acknowledgments-a desirable and practical capability of fielded systems that has not been considered to date. Simulations and field experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.
Description
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Applied Ocean Science and Engineering (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2015. This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (pages 181-201).
Date issued
2015Department
Joint Program in Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical EngineeringPublisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Keywords
Joint Program in Applied Ocean Science and Engineering., Mechanical Engineering., Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.