The ROV Control System

This section describes the selection of the control strategy. It then presents the control
system design, the sensor package and real-time monitoring system. The section
concludes with an overview of the anticipated system architecture in terms of the
computer hardware, operating system and system software.
4.1 Selection of control strategy
In selecting the control strategy for this ROV system a decision was made to limit the
choice to those strategies which have been demonstrated on practical systems and which
have been reported in the literature. A review of strategies which fit these criteria was
presented in section three.
Although relatively cheap and simple to implement, Open-loop controllers provide no
automatic compensation for environmental disturbances. Such controllers are therefore
not suitable for vehicles used for marine survey or diver support operations, or for
vehicles intended for AUV system development.
Closed-loop Two- and Three-Term Controllers include a feedback component
enabling the controller to automatically compensate for environmental disturbances. It
has been suggested, however, that three-term controllers may not be sufficiently robust
to deal with the variations in system parameters which may be expected in a modular
submersible vehicle in the marine environment. Several controllers will also be required
for each degree-of-freedom if stable, high-performance, control is to be achieved across
the whole operating range of the vehicle [Yoerger, et al., 1986]. Most authors seem to
agree that more advanced controllers are better suited to the problem of controlling a
submersible vehicle. PID controllers do, however, seem suitable candidates for control
of ROV thrusters if problems of thruster non-linearity can be resolved. These problems
might be eliminated, or at least significantly reduced, by the application of a simple 2- or
3-term controller to compensate for thruster non-linearity.
Linear-Quadratic (LQ) Control has been combined with the 'Smith-Predictor'
Adaptive Controller to produce a robust controller for underwater vehicles which
incorporate time delays. The strategy has been successfully demonstrated on the ARGO
towed-vehicle at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. However, there appear to be
no examples of LQ control of ROV systems in which the effect of thruster dynamics
produces more complex vehicle behaviour [Yoerger, et al., 1990]. As with other linear
controllers, several would be required for each degree-of-freedom to be controlled. For
this reason, the LQ control strategy has been rejected.
The marine environment is, by definition, 'unstructured'. In addition, the vehicle
configuration will be changed as the sensor package is tailored for the mission
requirements. An ideal controller for a submersible vehicle will be able to adapt to
changes in vehicle configuration or operating environment. Of the so-called Adaptive
Controllers, the 'Variable-Structure' or 'Sliding-Mode' Controller has been
successfully used on several ROV/AUV systems. These systems have been widely
reported in the literature [for examples see: Yoerger et al., 1986; Christi et al., 1990;
Healey & Lienard, 1993; and da Cunha et al., 1995].
Sliding-mode control has the additional attraction that a single controller can control the
vehicle across it's entire operating range. This strategy appears to be the best suited of
current control strategies for a vehicle AUV mission controller.
Whether the mission controller is a human pilot or an intelligent AUV controller, it is
desirable to minimise the effect of external disturbances on the vehicle. This can be
achieved by implementing cascaded control, with a lower-level controller to provide
some compensation for external disturbances. Furthermore, when AUV controllers are
employed, and especially when AUV controllers are being developed and tested, there
will be occasions where control must be switched between manual and automatic. In
these circumstances a bumpless transfer between manual and automatic control is
highly desirable.
Differences between the actual motion of the vehicle and that required by the controller
at the moment control is switched have the same effect as step inputs applied to the
controller. The effect may be severe leading to sudden, violent, movements of the
vehicle. In extreme cases, effects may exceed the vehicles design characteristics. A
rapid change after a large step change may upset or bump vehicle operating conditions.
Transient responses resulting from the bump may take a relatively long time to settle to
the set-point. In circumstances where the vehicle is deployed in restricted spaces or
close to divers in the water, bumpless transfer is thus essential. A lower-level controller,
independent of the mission controller helps provide bumpless transfer on the vehicle.
Additional complexity in controllers normally results in higher costs. Thus it is normal
practice to use the simplest controller which fulfils the requirements. This has been the
approach used in selecting controller designs for this project. A 3-term PID controller
has thus been chosen for thruster control to compensate for external disturbances.
Implementing this controller by DDC offers a number of advantages. In particular,
vehicle motion can be constantly monitored and regulated in three-dimensions, and
controller parameters can be rapidly changed in software to optimise controller
performance. This last is important given the iterative nature of ROV design.
As explained in chapter 2, thruster dynamics have a significant effect on overall vehicle
dynamics. The inherent non-linearity degrades thruster performance especially at low
speeds. Thruster performance can therefore be improved, and vehicle dynamics
potentially simplified, by incorporating a third level of control to compensate for thruster
non-linearity.
4.2 Design of the control system
As stated from the outset, the vehicle controller developed in this project is for a ROV
system. The control system design thus incorporates the lower two levels of the control
strategy. Both elements of the control system have been designed for implementation by
DDC on an on-board computer. As stated above, one advantage of this is that controller
parameters can be quickly and easily modified in software. Once a prototype vehicle
becomes available for testing the estimated values for controller parameters used below
will be replaced by those obtained from testing the vehicle. The Zeigler-Nichols methods
[Appendix 5] offer a practical approach for establishing these values.
The lowest level of the control system, compensation for thruster non-linearity, is
considered first.
4.2.1 Thruster Non-linearity Compensation
Thruster non-linearity results from a number of sources. The main factors causing non-
linearity in thruster response are static friction (stiction) in the motor cog, gearing, o-
ring water seal etc., and the problem of thrusters stalling at low currents. A closed-loop
controller on each thruster to provide velocity compensation for the propeller will
eliminate the non-linearity. This will improve thruster performance and reliability. It will
also improve the reliability of controllers operating at a higher level in the control
hierarchy. A simple and economical PI controller would appear to be suitable for this
application.
Electrically the thruster is an armature-current controlled motor, in which the armature
voltage is varied to change the speed. This provides a speed-controlled thruster similar to
the motor described in PMT604 [Block 3, section 3.2]. This is a fairly common design
for ROV thrusters. The thruster characteristics, provided by the manufacturer, are
tabulated below:
Table 4.1 Thruster Characteristics
Rotor velocity and direction can be measured using an optical encoder. A number of
suitable low-cost devices are available offering similar performance. The sensor
selected is the HEDS-5640 optical encoder combined with the HCTL-2016 16-bit
quadrature decoder/counter, both from Agilent Technologies [Appendix D]. The
Thruster Characteristics
Rated voltage 25V
Rated current 20A
Stall current 1.8A
Max power (85% efficiency) 425W
Armature resistance
0.24
Armature inductance 1mH
back EMF constant 0.092V (rad/sec)
Torque constant 0.087 Nm/A
Motor speed control 1000 rpm/V
Propeller speed constant 125 rpm/V
Rotor inertia 0.00458 kgm
-2
Gearing ratio 8:1
Electrical time-constant 4.2 ms
Mechanical time-constant 600ms
maximum motor speed is 25000 rpm (approximately 417 revolutions per second)
which corresponds to an input voltage of t 25V. The 16-bit counter on the quadrature
decoder offers a quantization interval of less than 1 rpm. The effects of quantization
errors are thus avoided.
A PI controller to provide thruster compensation is shown below:
Figure 4.1: PI Thruster compensation
The general form of the PI controller is:
X
E
Kp
Ti
+

1
]
1
1
1
s
where Kp = controller gain
Ti = integral time
An alternative form, suitable for implementation in software is:
u n Kp e n Io
T
Ti
e k
k
k n
( ) ( ) ( ) + +

;

'

1
where u(n) = required output
e(n) = error signal (controller input)
Kp = proportional gain
Io = initial condition of integrator
T = sampling period
Ti = integral time
The closed-loop transfer function will be a second-order differential equation. To
obtain an initial estimate for controller parameters the thruster transfer function has
been assumed to be of the form:
G(s)
s

+
K
1
is the thruster time-constant, and the gain K is given by K
Kb

1
where Kb is the
back-emf constant. Thus, using value from table 1 above, =600ms and K=10.87.
Assuming the sensor to act as a proportional device with unity gain, and neglecting
the effect of the limiter, the closed-loop transfer function becomes:
G(s)
s
s s

_
,

+
+

_
,
+

_
,

KpK
Ti
KKp KKp
Ti

1
1
2
The system must employ positive damping for a stable time-response. An
underdamped system will provide a relatively fast-acting response. The system is
intended to improve thruster non-linearity, so minimising overshoot and avoiding a
resonance peak at =
n
in the closed-loop frequency response are desirable. A
damping factor =0.7 should provide an acceptable speed of response without
excessive overshoot. Selecting the closed-loop undamped natural frequency
n
=1.4
rads
-1
gives poles located at s = -1 t j. From this the values for Kp and Ti can be
calculated thus:
Kp
K

2 1
so Kp = 0.018
Ti
2 1
2

so, Ti = 0.167 s c.f. [PMT604, Block 3, Section

+
+ +
2
3
2 2
2
The sampling rate needs to be at least five to ten times the closed-loop bandwidth.
This would require a sampling interval of between 450 and 900ms. In fact, a sampling
interval of 200ms has been selected since this is well within the capabilities of the on-
board processor intended for the ROV. At maximum speed, this sampling interval
corresponds to slightly more than 10 revolutions of the propeller.
It is recognised that the above model is a gross over-simplification. Firstly, the
thruster cannot be represented as a linear first order system. The controller is being
developed expressly to compensate for the thruster non-linearity. Secondly, the sensor
gain is not unity, and the effect of the limiter has been neglected. Lastly, a digital to
analogue converter (DAC) will need to be added to the loop, further modifying the
closed-loop transfer function. Nevertheless, the model suffices to provide initial
estimates for controller parameters.
An outline for the required software has been developed and is shown below:
4.2.2 Thruster Control
A human pilot controls a ROV by means of joysticks on a control panel. The pilots
inputs correspond to required movement along the vehicles x, y or z axes. It seems
reasonable to assume that an AUV controller will also provide x, y and z components
for required vehicle movements. The ROV has been designed to have six thrusters
mounted in pairs orthogonally aligned with the vehicle axes. A controller is therefore
provided for each pair of thrusters.
DEFINE VARIABLES
;controller settings
REAL gain = 0.018 ;proportional gain
REAL TI = 0.167 ;integral time (seconds)
REAL IO = 0 ;integrator initial condition
REAL T = 0.2 ;sampling period (seconds)
REAL MAXV = 25000 ;maximum rotor speed
REAL MINV = -25000
REAL T1 = T/TI
;initial conditions
REAL Vact = 0 ;actual rotor speed
REAL Vreq = 0 ;required rotor speed
REAL error = 0 ;current error value
REAL Esum = 0 ;sum of samples
REAL UN = 0 ;initial output
REPEAT every 200ms
BEGIN
READ volt ;applied voltage
Vreq = volt * 1000
READ Vact ;current speed
error = Vreq - Vact
Esum = Esum + error ;update sum of samples
UN = gain * (error + Io + (T1 * Esum))
IF UN > MAXV ;limit speed
THEN UN = MAXV
ENDIF
IF UN < MINV
THEN UN = MINV
ENDIF
WRITE UN ;write output
END
Motion can be measured using solid-state accelerometers acting as rate-gyros. Three
such gyros, mounted orthogonally at the centre of mass and aligned with the vehicle
axes, will therefore monitor the x, y and z components of the vehicles motion. The
gyros can also function as the sensors for a basic inertial positioning system. The
maximum ROV speed is specified as 2 knots (1.03 ms
-1
). For a positional error of
0.1m, the minimum sample interval is 51ms.
Several suitable accelerometers are available. Tri-axial units are also available but
these cost significantly more than three equivalent single-axis models. The device
chosen for the sensor is the Analog Devices ADXL105 high-accuracy 1g to 5g
single-axis accelerometer, combined with the AD976 16-bit 10
5
sample/second A/D
converter [Appendix D]. The ADXL105 incorporates an uncommitted amplifier
suitable for configuration as a low-pass filter to eliminate high frequency vibration.
The form of the controller is shown below:
Figure 4.2 PID Controller
The thruster assembly includes the non-linearity compensator described in section
4.2.1 above. The general form of the transfer function of a PID controller can be
expressed as:
X
E
K
Ti
Td + +

1
]
1
1
1
s
s
where K = controller gain
Ti = integral time
Td = derivative time
An alternative form suitable for implementation in software is:
[ ] u n K e n Io
T
Ti
e k
Td
T
e n e n
k
k n
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( + + +

'

1
1
where u(n) = required output
e(n) = error signal (controller input)
K = proportional gain
Io = initial condition of integrator
T = sampling period
Ti = integral time
Td = derivative time
[PMT604, Block
2, p23]
Setting Ti = 4Td simplifies the tuning of the controller and is normal practice for PID
controllers. Setting Io = 0 at time t=0 is also reasonable at this stage.
No data is available for the thruster response when attached to the ROV. The
mechanical time-constant of the thruster is known to be 600ms, but this is now part of
the control-loop described in section 4.2.1 above. The time-response of the loop to a
unit-step is given by:
( ) c t
e
t
n
t
d
( ) sin

1
1
2

where
d n
1
2
and

tan
1
2
1
The control-loop has been designed with a natural frequency
n
= 1.4rads
-1
, and a
damping factor of =0.7, which will give a minimal overshoot of about 4.5% of the
final value. If this overshoot is neglected, an approximate time-constant for the
closed-loop can be estimated, giving a value of 1.23 seconds.
For stable systems, an value for the integral time which is too large is almost always
preferred than one which is too small. In this instance, a value for Ti of 5 seconds has
been selected. This will be modified by the Zeigler-Nichols method [Appendix 5]
when the prototype is available. The gain will also be determined by this method. For
the present, the controller gain has been assigned a value of 2.
The complete controller is shown in figure 4.3 below:
2 1
1
5
125 + +

1
]
1
s
s .
0 018 1
1
0167
.
.
+

1
]
1
s
Figure 4.3: Complete Control System
The sampling interval of 50ms has been chosen to enable the sensor to function as a
simple inertial guidance module for a future AUV mission controller if this is
required. The sampling frequency is thus far higher than the minimum actually
required for the controller.
The outline for the required software shown below is for the x-axis PID controller.
Controllers for the y and z axes will be essentially similar in form.
4.3 Signal Conditioning
The ROV system incorporates electrical, mechanical and hydraulic systems. The
vehicle is therefore an electrically and mechanically noisy environment. Electrical
noise will degrade signals and mechanical vibrations will effect sensors. The vehicle
DEFINE VARIABLES
;controller settings
REAL gain = 2 ;proportional gain
REAL TI = 5 ;integral time (seconds)
REAL TD = TI/4 ;derivative time (seconds)
REAL IO = 0 ;integrator initial condition
REAL T = 0.05 ;sampling period (seconds)
REAL T1 = T/TI
REAL T2 = TD/T
;initial conditions
REAL Xact = 0 ;actual motion in X
REAL Xreq = 0 ;required motion in X
REAL error = 0 ;current error value
REAL Elast = 0 ;last error value
REAL Esum = 0 ;sum of samples
REAL Ediff = 0
REAL UN = 0 ;initial output
REPEAT every 50ms
BEGIN
READ Xreq
READ Xact
error = Xreq - Xact
Esum = Esum + error
Ediff = error + Elast
Elast = error
UN = gain * (error + (T1 * Esum) + (T2 *Ediff))
WRITE UN ;write output
END
is a compact unit so signal paths are short. Shielded cables, which are also necessary
for protection against the marine environment, will minimise the effect of electrical
noise and reduce the signal conditioning requirements.
The optical encoder employed as the sensor for thruster non-linearity compensation
provides a direct digital output corresponding to motor shaft speed. Pull-up resistors
on the output pins enable each of the three channels to drive a single TTL load. These
resistors can be mounted directly on the sensor. An analogue to digital converter and
low-pass filter will be required on the motor drive voltage at the controller input. The
low-pass filter will eliminate high-frequency noise. No further signal conditioning is
required on this controller.
The sensors for the thruster controllers are accelerometers which provide an analogue
voltage proportional to the acceleration along each of the vehicles axes. Vibration will
also be measured by these sensors providing an unwanted output. A low-pass filter
on the output will eliminate responses due to this vibration leaving only the required
signal at the analogue to digital converter input, and also act as an anti-aliasing filter.
A design for a suitable filter, which also provides 0g offset, using the uncommitted
amplifier is provided in the ADXL105 data sheet [Appendix D]. The filter is a
second-order Sallen-Key low-pass filter which has been re-drawn below as figure 4.4:
C2
C1
R1 R2
R4
R3
VR1
VDD
IN
OUT
Figure 4.4: Active low-pass filter with gain and offset
The cut-off frequency,
c
, and gain, K, are given by:
c
c
f
R C R C

2
1
1 1 2 2
and
K
R
R
+ 1
4
3
the component values given in the data sheet are R
1
= R
2
= R
3
= 47k
R
4
= 100k
C
1
= C
2
= 0.1 F
VR
1
= 10k
giving a cut-off frequency f
c
= 33Hz and gain K 3. These appear to be reasonable
values for a first estimate until measurements from a prototype unit are available. The
controller input, from the pilot, is already in digital form, and should thus require no
further signal conditioning.