Altitude control feasibility for a seaweed harvester

In this paper, the feasibility of the altitude control of a seaweed harvester is examined. The harvesting system consists of a vessel and a suspended harvester device, the altitude of which is controlled by a winch. The goal of the control action is to maintain the harvester at a constant altitude with respect to the seabed profile. A control strategy is proposed, including a vessel motion feed-forward action, using a motion reference unit (MRU), and an altitude feedback loop, using a sonar device for altitude measurement.