• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.693-704
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• 2017

Blended-Wing-Body Underwater Glider (BWBUG), which has excellent hydrodynamic performance, is a new kind of underwater glider in recent years. In the shape optimization of BWBUG, the lift to drag ratio is often used as the optimization target. However this results in lose of internal space. In this paper, the energy reserve is defined as the direct proportional function of the internal space of BWBUG. A motion model, which relates gliding range to steady gliding motion parameters as well as energy consumption, is established by analyzing the steady-state gliding motion. The maximum gliding range is used as the optimization target instead of the lift to drag ratio to optimizing the shape of BWBUG. The result of optimization shows that the maximum gliding range of initial design is increased by 32.1% though an Efficient Global Optimization (EGO) process.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.65 no.12
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• pp.2023-2029
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• 2016

This paper addresses a robust controller design technique for a nonlinear underwater glider with disturbances. We consider the buoyancy and pitching moment as control inputs, which generate additional nonlinearity on the plant dynamics. To deal with the nonlinearity, we utilize the optimal linearization technique. The conditions for the optimal linearization and the controller design are formulated in terms of matrix inequalities. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through a simulation.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.130-137
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• 2012

The underwater glider using conception of Lagrangian method, is a new observation platform to understand the properties of the ocean vertically. In 2011 March, KORDI made a first successful autonomous trip from Hupo to west coast of Uleungdo piloting Littoral Glider of Alaska Native Technology LLC. The journey considered many environmental variables and route vigilantly selected, the glider covered 177 km horizontally and took approximately 6 days (153 hours). Despite the existence of 1 kt eddy current, Sound velocity sampling was conducted from 5 meters and reaching maximum of 200 meters depth at each dive. It successfully collected sound velocity and temperature profile at every 5 seconds totaling up to 1408 profiles using SVT&P sensor. During the flight it was also a mission to check the diverse modes of the glider i.e. spiral, waypoints, heading, drift and hover could function without a defect in a given situation. These modes were thoroughly monitored and it could be considered that the glider handled it well during the flight. As a result of this test flight, it was evident that the given underwater glider could operate under 2kt current environment with users defined heading and depth, also with the payload up to 5 kg without changing internal buoyancy.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.7
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• pp.709-715
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• 2015

Underwater gliders do not typically have separate propellers for forward motion. They generate propulsive forces based on the difference between their buoyancy and gravity. They can control the volume from the buoyancy engine to adjust the propulsive force. In addition, the attitude of the underwater glider is controlled by a rubberless motion controller. The motion controller can change the mass center and moment of inertia of the inner moving mass. Owing to the change in these parameters, the attitude of the underwater glider is changed. In this study, we derive nonlinear, six degree of freedom (DOF) mathematical models for the motion controller and buoyancy engine. Using these equations, we perform dynamic simulations of the proposed underwater glider, and verify the suitability of the design and dynamic performances of the proposed underwater glider. We then perform the motion control simulation for the pitch and roll angle, and analyze the dynamic performance according to the pitch and roll angles.

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.105-112
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• 2022

In this paper, unmanned underwater glider was designed for high-depth operation and adopted a bladder-type buoyancy controller for improving battery efficiency, and the motion controller controls the pitch angle by moving the internal mass battery. To improve the energy efficiency of the unmanned underwater glider, a layered PID controller that performs control by section was designed. Simulation program including 6-DOF motion equations and hydrodynamics coefficients of an unmanned underwater glider is constructed using Matlab/Simulink program. Control methods such as PID controller, sliding mode controller and layered PID controller were applied to the simulator to compare the dynamics performance and energy efficiency. As a result, the layered PID controller showed improved control performance compared to other controllers and improved energy efficiency of approximately 7.2% compared to PID controller.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.1890-1897
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• 2022

In this paper, we design a navigation filter for an underwater glider. Underwater gliders are low-cost, reusable, and can be used for a long time. Two types of filters are designed considering characteristics such as small size, low cost, and low power. The navigation filter estimates the reference velocity of the underwater glider's body frame based on the minimum sensor output. The sensor configuration of the first filter consists of an accelerometer, a magnetometer, and a depth sensor. the second filter include extra a gyroscope in the same configuration. The estimated velocity is fused with the attitude, converted into the velocity of the navigation frame and finally the position is estimated. To analyze the performance of the proposed filter, analysis was performed using Monte Carlo numerical analysis method, and the results were analyzed with standard deviation (1σ). Standard deviations of each filter's position error are 334.34m, 125.91m.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.730-740
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• 2018

Hydrofoil is the direct component to generate thrust for underwater glider. It is significant to improve propulsion efficiency of hydrofoil. This study optimizes the shape of a hydrofoil using Free-Form Deformation (FFD) parametric approach and Surrogate-based Optimization (SBO) algorithm. FFD approach performs a volume outside the hydrofoil and the position changes of control points in the volume parameterize hydrofoil's geometric shape. SBO with adaptive parallel sampling method is regarded as a promising approach for CFD-based optimization. Combination of existing sampling methods is being widely used recently. This paper chooses several well-known methods for combination. Investigations are implemented to figure out how many and which methods should be included and the best combination strategy is provided. As the hydrofoil can be stretched from airfoil, the optimizations are carried out on a 2D airfoil and a 3D hydrofoil, respectively. The lift-drag ratios are compared among optimized and original hydrofoils. Results show that both lift-drag-ratios of optimized hydrofoils improve more than 90%. Besides, this paper preliminarily explores the optimization of hydrofoil with root-tip-ratio. Results show that optimizing 3D hydrofoil directly achieves slightly better results than 2D airfoil.

• Journal of Advanced Navigation Technology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.21-29
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• 2017

In this paper, we studied the control of the hybrid underwater glider (HUG), which has the advantage of high precision route search function and long-term mission capability. Dynamic modeling of HUG is based on numerical model of the attitude controller and buoyancy engine, thruster. We designed the control part considering the smooth control and precise sailing of HUG. A buoyancy engine capable of inhaling water is designed to control the buoyancy of HUG. And mass shifter carrying the battery was designed for controlling pitching motion of HUG. A control system for controlling the buoyancy engine and the attitude controller was constructed. In order to verify performance, we performed water tank test using manufactured HUG.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.56-76
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• 2024

We for the first time made a successful longest continuous sectional observation in the East Sea by an underwater glider during 95 days from September 18 to December 21 2020 in the Korea along the 106 Line (129.1 °E ~ 131.5 °E at 37.9 °N) of the regular shipboard measurements by the National Institute of Fishery Science (NIFS) and obtained twelve hydrographic sections with high spatiotemporal resolution. The glider was deployed at 129.1 °E in September 18 and conducted 88-days flight from September 19 to December 15 2020, yielding twelve hydrographic sections, and then recovered at 129.2 °E in December 21 after the last 6 days virtual mooring operation. During the total traveled distance of 2550 km, the estimated deviation from the predetermined zonal path had an average RMS distance of 262 m. Based on these high-resolution long-term glider measurements, we conducted a comparative study with the bi-monthly NIFS measurements in terms of spatial and temporal resolutions, and found distinguished features. One is that spatial features of sub-mesoscale such as sub-mesoscale frontal structure and intensified thermocline were detected only in the glider measurements, mainly due to glider's high spatial resolution. The other is the detection of intramonthly variations from the weekly time series of temperature and salinity, which were extracted from glider's continuous sections. Lastly, there were deviations and bias in measurements from both platforms. We argued these deviations in terms of the time scale of variation, the spatial scale of fixed-point observation, and the calibration status of CTD devices of both platforms.

• International Journal of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.439-449
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• 2018

In this paper, multi-objective optimization of a multi-bubble pressure cabin in the underwater glider with Blended-Wing-Body (BWB) is carried out using Kriging and the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II). Two objective functions are considered: buoyancy-weight ratio and internal volume. Multi-bubble pressure cabin has a strong compressive capacity, and makes full use of the fuselage space. Parametric modeling of the multi-bubble pressure cabin structure is automatic generated using UG secondary development. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is employed to study the structural performance using the commercial software ANSYS. The weight of the primary structure is determined from the volume of the Finite Element Structure (FES). The stress limit is taken into account as the constraint condition. Finally, Technique for Ordering Preferences by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method is used to find some trade-off optimum design points from all non-dominated optimum design points represented by the Pareto fronts. The best solution is compared with the initial design results to prove the efficiency and applicability of this optimization method.