Design, Development and Fuzzy Logic Based Control of a Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle

Underwater marine exploration still remains a mystery. The purpose of this paper is to address the issues in design and development: of underwater vehicles with obstacle avoidance and maneuvering assistance for operator in marine environment using fuzzy logic controller. A symmetrical, cost effective and small sized underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) with three thrusters is designed for testing control algorithm and performance of system. Kinematics of the ROV is developed relating speed of rotation of thrusters with ROV's linear and angular acceleration. A comparative study of the system's response for simple if-else logic and with fuzzy logic controller for navigation is made and evaluated. A Graphical User Interface (GUI) with live feed is provided to the operator for wider range of visual observation of underwater environment and navigational aid.