Motion and control simulation of a dished autonomous underwater helicopter

This paper presents the motion simulation of an autonomous underwater helicopter (AUH), a new type of underwater vehicle proposed by Zhejiang University. In order to determine whether its controllability meets the design requirements, a singularity-free unit quaternion stable control method is used for simulating the AUH performance in MATLAB, including its force and trajectory under different types of motion. In addition, reliable hydrodynamic coefficients and properties of the AUH were determined by using Fluent, a well-known viscous computational fluid dynamics software. Finally, according to the results of the motion and control simulation, we preliminarily confirm the propeller model and layout of the AUH, and demonstrate that the applied control method meets the stated requirements.