Effect of the damping and excitation on the identification of the hydrodynamic parameters for an underwater robotic vehicle

The main objective of this work is to investigate the effects of the damping level as well as different excitation forms on the overall prediction of the hydrodynamic parameters in the equations describing the coupled heave and pitch motions for an Underwater Robotic Vehicle (URV) sailing near the sea surface in random waves. The response of an underwater vehicle heaving and pitching in random waves having wide-band and narrow-band spectra are generated. The RDLRNNT technique is used to identify the hydrodynamic parameters in the equations. The technique is based on a combination of a multiple linear regression algorithm and a neural networks technique. The combination of the classical parametric identification techniques and the neural networks technique provides robust results and does not require a large amount of computer time. The identification technique would be particularly useful in identifying the parameters for both moderately and lightly damped motions under the action of unknown excitations effected by a realistic sea. It is shown that the developed technique produces reliable results for the parameters in the equations describing the coupled heave and pitch motions for a URV. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.