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Abstract

This paper presents the development of a new complex marine unmanned platform composed of an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) and a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), and the results of a sea test. The platform structure, control system, sensor system, and control algorithm were developed and are introduced. The complex platform collects information of the underwater structures, such as the wall, floor, and piers and harbors. Using a tether cable, the ROV is connected to the USV for power supply and to receive a large amount of underwater data obtained using a sonar scanner or a camera in real time. The ultra-short baseline transponder is attached to the USV hull to determine the position of the ROV in real time where a transponder is installed. The ROV can be launched and recovered using the winch system installed on the USV. The data collected by the two vehicles can be transmitted to an operating center in real time via radio frequency (RF) communications. A new CTE tracking algorithm and a dynamic positioning algorithm are proposed. The proposed algorithms are implemented by conducting sea tests, and the results of the performance tests are presented. In particular, for the hovering control of the ROV, a proportional–integral–differential (PID) controller and a robust sliding mode control (SMC) are applied, and the superior performance of the SMC is presented.

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