Construction of a Digital Twin System for the Autonomous Underwater Helicopter and Validation in Path-Tracking Experiments

The Autonomous Underwater Helicopter (AUH) represents a novel innovation in the field of underwater vehicles, specifically designed for close-range seabed exploration and deep-sea equipment inspection. However, the development and deployment of the AUH are highly dependent on hardware reliability, while the lack of synchronization between software development and control design constrains system debugging efficiency and mission execution capabilities. To address these challenges, this paper proposes the construction of an AUH digital twin system, utilising the physical prototype AUH-HY as a case study. The behavioral modes of AUH are systematically analyzed, and a cross-software co-simulation platform is established. Additionally, preliminary tests are conducted using both the Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) and the Linear Active Disturbance Rejection Control (LADRC) controllers. Finally, a comparative analysis with path-tracking pool experiment demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed digital twin system in real-world operational control, significantly reducing the workload of hardware debugging and enhancing the overall development efficiency.