The Method of Coordinated Control of UUV's Thrusters and On-Board MM for Docking Procedure

The paper proposes a new method for automatic docking of uninhabited underwater vehicles (UUV) equipped with multi-link manipulators (MM) with underwater docking platforms (DP), which can have an arbitrary spatial orientation. This method involves gripping a universal attachment (rod) mounted on the DP with a grip tool, followed by automatically docking the UUV by changing the configuration of the MM module. At the same time, considering the current relative position of the DP and UUV, a desired trajectory for the grip tool and its variable orientation are automatically generated, providing necessary movements of the UUV's body towards the DP. Since large forces and torques can arise during the docking process that could lead to failure, it is necessary to compensate for these dynamic effects in real time. This can be achieved by using thrusters on the UUV to generate forces that counteract the negative effects. The results of numerical simulations in Matlab/Simulink have shown the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed method.