Zbigniew Kostka
supervisor: Elżbieta Jarzębowska
A glider is an underwater robot that utilizes variable-buoyancy propulsion instead of standard propulsion systems employed in the most of the conventional autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV). At the water surface, the robot becomes negatively buoyant and sinks down to a certain depth, where its buoyancy becomes positive, thus it returns back to the surface. The motion is controlled by moveable internal weights that travel back and forth, changing the vehicle’s center of gravity and in the result altering its trajectory. Such a cycle is called saw tooth glide pattern. The vehicle usually moves at very low speed, but it can operate for months and traverse thousands of kilometers, what makes it very energy efficient method of collecting information on ocean conditions. This class of UAV is underactuated, what leads to their limited maneuverability.
The research focuses on finding a new control algorithms that can address the issue. In the first stage of the process, a mathematical model that would simulate the glider in two-dimensional space was created and some simple movement strategies (LQR and Dubin’s path) were prepared. In such a setup, the vehicle is limited to vertical movement only. In the next steps, the model will be moved to full 3D space and it will be tested on real hardware with an appropriate electronics and communication system.