Electromagnetic Localization and Tracking Control of Underactuated Autonomous Underwater Vehicle for Subsea Cable Detection

Subsea cables are important channels for international interconnection and power transmission. Traditional subsea cable operation and maintenance approaches rely on underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). This method is time-consuming, labour-intensive, and uneconomical due to insufficient autonomy and strong dependence on surface ship auxiliary. This paper proposes an intelligent detection scheme for simultaneous electromagnetic localization and autonomous tracking of subsea cables based on an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) equipped with an electromagnetic system. The dual triaxial electromagnetic array carried by AUV is designed to calculate the spatial location of the subsea cable. The localization results are used to design the AUV tracking guidance law, and the underactuation problem is solved. At the AUV kinetic level, the command filter and adaptive neural network are designed to solve the constraints of electromagnetic noise, unknown dynamic parameters and complex ocean current interferences. Finally, the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed autonomous detection and tracking control scheme for subsea cables are verified by comparative simulation studies.

I. Introduction

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) is a widely used and highly potential transportation platform for ocean exploration and underwater engineering equipment operation and maintenance [1], [2]. Compared with remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and diver operations, AUV has the characteristics of high intelligence and low dependence on auxiliary facilities [3], [4]. AUVs are generally deployed underwater to perform various detection tasks, including marine scientific sampling, seabed mapping, hydrographic surveying, etc [5], [6]. In order to perform underwater tasks safely and efficiently, AUVs are required to have functions such as intelligent navigation and robust control in specific scenarios [7], [8], [9], [10]. At present, high-speed and large-capacity international communications and coastal power transmission mainly rely on subsea cables. It is of great significance to detect, inspect and maintain subsea cables [11]. Compared with conventional ROV and diver detection, intelligent and accurate detection of subsea cables using AUV will greatly improve efficiency, reduce operating and maintenance costs of subsea cable systems [12].