Application of a zero-speed fin stabilizer for roll reduction of a marine robot near the surface

Abstract

A zero-speed fin stabilizer system was developed for rolling control of a marine robot. As a robot steering device near the sea surface with low speed, it will have rolling motion due to disturbance from waves. Based on the working principle of a zero-speed fin stabilizer and a marine robot’s dynamic properties, a roll damping controller was designed with a master-slave structure. It was composed of a sliding mode controller and an output tracking controller that calculates the desired righting moment and drives the zero-speed fin stabilizer. The methods of input-output linearization and model reference were used to realize the tracking control. Simulations were presented to demonstrate the validity of the control law proposed.

Keywords

zero-speed fin stabilizer / roll reduction / input-output linearization / master-slave structure / marine robot