Estimating the Lateral Motion States of an Underwater Robot by Propeller Wake Sensing Using an Artificial Lateral Line

The artificial lateral line (ALL), comprising distributed flow sensors, has been successful in sensing motion states of bioinspired underwater robots like robotic fish. However, its application to robots driven by rotating propellers remains unexplored due to the complexity of propeller wake flow. This article investigates the feasibility of using ALL to sense propeller wake for underwater robot leader-follower formation. To estimate the lateral motion states of a leader propeller, this article designs a multioutput deep learning network that extracts temporal and spatial features from distributed pressure measurements of propeller wake. Extensive experiments are conducted on a designed testbed, the results of which validate the effectiveness of the proposed propeller wake sensing method.