1994 IARP, 2nd Workshop on Mobile Robots for Subsea Environments (Monterey, CA)

Underwater Vehicle Dynamic Positioning Based on a Passive Arm Measurement System

Liu Hsu y Ramon R. Costa Fernando C. Lizarralde GSCAR { Department of Electrical Engineering { COPPE/UFRJ Jose Paulo V. S. da Cunha CEFET{RJ | Coordenac~o de Eletr^nica a o Jan L. Scieszko Andrei V. Romanov Department of Mechanical Engineering | COPPE/UFRJ Dirceu Wollmann Junior Ant^nio C. M. Sant'Anna o CENPES/PETROBRAS

Abstract
This paper describes the development of a prototype ROV dynamic positioning (DP) system based on a Passive Arm (PA). The PA consists of a freely moving mechanical arm, without actuators, which measures the ROV position relative to some underwater structure. This measuring method was selected as the most adequate one for ROV DP when the tasks to be performed are limited to a workspace of a few meters range. A prototype passive arm based DP system was designed, constructed and tested on an actual ROV. Details about the hardware and software of the overall DP system are described. Two control algorithms were implemented: a conventional linear controller and an adaptive controller based on sliding modes. The adaptive controller performs better and is easier to tune. Full-scale experimental results are described and indicate that the proposed system can signi cantly improve the e ciency of underwater inspection and intervention. Keywords | ROV, underwater vehicle, automatic control, adaptive control, dynamic positioning, position measurement.

1 Introduction
Although Remotely Operated underwater Vehicles (ROV's) have been applied in o {shore exploThis work has been developed by the GSCAR, Department of Electrical Engineering of COPPE/UFRJ (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) under contract for CENPES/PETROBRAS (COPPETEC ET-130104). y All the correspondence should be sent to this author. Mailing address: COPPE/UFRJ { Department of Electrical Engineering, PO.Box 68504, Rio de Janeiro, 21945/970 RJ, Brazil. E{mail: liu@coep.ufrj.br

ration for quite a long time, their operation still remains a di cult task which is time{consuming and demands much of the pilot's attention. Many studies carried out in the last decade have shown that ROV Dynamic Positioning (DP) is an important step towards the automation of ROV tasks (e.g., 14], 6]). A key problem in DP is the choice of the position measurement system in view of the required precision, cost and operational aspects. There are operations in deep water oil exploration which require precise DP in a region limited to a few meters in the neighborhood of some underwater structure where the ROV is performing its task (e.g., opening a valve in a "Xmas tree"). One immediate advantage is the great reduction in the operation time that can be achieved with precise DP leading to obvious economical impact. Indeed, considering that one subsea oil well can produce as much as 10,000 to 20,000 barrels a day, great nancial losses are implied by long shut-down periods during repairs. The Brazilian Oil Company (PETROBRAS) has been interested in developing such DP systems to minimize ROV operational costs in intervention tasks. A joint project with the \Group of Simulation and Control in Automation and Robotics" (GSCAR) was started in May 1992 under the contract ET{130104. This paper describes the several development phases of the project, as well as the full-scale experimental tests with the resulting DP prototype. Recently we addressed the problem of selecting a measurement system 4]. The following candidate systems were considered in the comparative study: speed logs, inertial navigation, long baseline (LBL) or short baseline (SBL) acoustic systems, taut{wire and passive arm (PA) 9]. The main characteristics of the candidate systems were discussed and it was

concluded 4] that the PA is the best choice for many applications in underwater oil exploration. The PA is a freely moving mechanical arm without actuators (if they exist they may remain inactive during DP) with at least six degrees of freedom. One extremity of the arm is installed on board the ROV and the other one is attached to the underwater structure (e.g., magnetically). Angular sensors coupled to each joint of the arm give the measure of the ROV position relative to the structure through direct kinematics. A prototype PA conceived for use with general ROV's was designed and built by the GSCAR team. The PA is quite practical since it can be easily plugged to most commercial ROV's. The proposed DP commands the ROV through its joystick input as in other usual commercially available DP systems. This facilitates the adaptation of the system to most ROV's. In new ROV designs, the PA DP system could be included as an optional part which could be completely installed on board the ROV. A possible control algorithm for DP is a conventional cascade linear controller 10] referred to as the P{PI. This algorithm performs well at least in nominal conditions. However, it takes a long time to be tuned even by control experts, as was concluded from several experimental tank trials carried out with a 4-thruster, 300 kg commercial ROV (TATUI). A recently developed advanced control scheme, the Variable Structure Model{Reference Adaptive Controller (VS{MRAC) 7], 8], was considered for ROV DP 3], 2]. Simulations with a rather realistic model of an actual ROV have shown that the VS{MRAC can improve the performance of DP and is easier to tune. These conclusions were recently con rmed by tank tests.

developed. Both simulation programs run on PC's. 2 Design, analysis and simulation tests of autoheading and auto-depth control system for TATUI. 1990: 2 Preliminary theoretical and simulation study of ROV DP using conventional control techniques (PD and P{PI). 2 Preliminary evaluation of a taut-wire position measurement system for ROV DP. 1991: 2 Theoretical and simulation study on Variable Structure Control and VS{MRAC 3] 2] applied to ROV DP. 1992: 2 Start of a prototype DP system development under contract for CENPES/PETROBRAS. 2 Selection of the position measurement system 4]. 2 Development of a real-time version of the simulator SOL on a SUN workstation. 2 Computation and/or measurement of TATUI's parameters in order to adjust the ROV dynamic model implemented in SOL. 1993: 2 Experimental tank tests for static and dynamic modeling of ROV thrusters. 2 Prototype design and building of the PA and other DP subsystems. 2 Evaluation of the complete DP system through quite realistic simulation which even included experimentally logged measurement and quantization noise produced by PA sensors and the data acquisition system, as well as the thruster dynamics. 2 Preliminary tank tests of the DP system installed on board the ROV TATUI using P{PI control. January 1994: 2 Final tests of the DP system with P{PI control. 2 Tank tests with the adaptive controller VS{ MRAC. 2 Evaluation of the PA based ROV DP system. A more detailed description of the developed DP system and the corresponding experimental tests are presented in what follows. 2

2 GSCAR R&D Activities in Underwater Robotics

The GSCAR activities in underwater robotics, described in what follows, started in 1986 along with the development of TATUI, the rst Brazilian ROV, designed and built by CONSUB/Rio. Most of these activities were performed under contract with the Brazilian Oil Company (PETROBRAS). 1986 through 1989: 2 Modeling and simulation of TATUI. A simpli ed dynamic model with three degrees of freedom (3 d.o.f.), horizontal motion and heading, was utilized to implement STR, a simulator which has a real-time operating capability allowing interaction with the user either by means of the computer keyboard, or of a joystick. A more realistic simulator (SOL) with 6 d.o.f. was also

TABLE I COMPARISON OF MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS

SYSTEM LBL SBL TAUT{WIRE PA i *** ** ** *** ii ** * * *** iii.a * ** ** ** CRITERIA iii.b iv *** ** * * * * * *** v ** * * *** vi ** * ** ***

Legend: *** | good ** | regular * | poor

3 Measurement system selection

The selection of the measurement system was carried out considering the criteria listed below 4]:
(i)

positioning accuracy; (ii) construction cost; (iii) operational characteristics: ease of measurement equipment installation in underwater environment; (iii.b) workspace range;
(iii.a)

The prototype DP system built at COPPE/UFRJ was conceived mainly to evaluate the performance of the adopted measurement and control techniques in fullscale tank tests. Therefore only a very preliminary version, using quite simple and low-cost hardware, was required. The adopted design strategy needs a minimal knowledge of the internal structure of the ROV to be controlled, and does not require signi cant modi cations of the vehicle itself or of its console. Therefore, it is expected that the DPSROV can be easily adapted to t most existing ROV's. In the DPSROV hierarchy, the higher level blocks interact with the lower ones using input/output approaches which do not require a detailed description of the lower level blocks. The ROV operator has freedom to act directly at any level to execute security routines overriding the hierarchy if any unpredicted or dangerous event occurs. The DPSROV hardware is schematically presented in the block diagram of Fig. 1. Each block is described in what follows. The Passive Arm (PA) measurement system is based on a mechanical arm with joint angle transducers, no actuators and at least six degrees of freedom. If actuators exist (e.g., for attaching one arm extremity to the underwater structure) they may remain inactive during DP. One end of the arm is installed on board the ROV (in Fig. 2 at PM ) and the other is attached (e.g., magnetically) to the underwater structure at PE during operation. The prototype PA has six rotational joints with rigid and lightweight links. Angular transducers (conductive plastic potentiometers) coupled to each joint give the measure of the ROV position (and attitude) relative to the structure of interest through direct kinematics. In reference 9] this method was used to compensate the ROV motion in the control system of a slave manipulator (active arm). Four principal error sources were identi ed in the PA method: (i) angular measurement errors; (ii) link exibility; (iii) clearance of the joints; (iv) sliding displacement of the xation mechanism. The e ects of sources (ii){(iv) should be minimized by an adequate design of the arm. Analyzing the positioning error caused by angular measurement errors, we have concluded that joint angle measurement with 0:1 accuracy result in positioning error smaller than 1 cm for an arm of about 2:5 m total length. It is remarkable that the PA is able to accurately measure the ROV attitude without gyroscopes or other expensive devices. This can also be accom3
B. The Passive Arm

A. General Description

(iv)

simplicity of construction; (v) commercial availability of components; (vi) time required to design and build the system.

From the very start, inertial navigation and speed logs were discarded owing to their inherent drift. Working only with one such measurement system, would require the pilot to compensate drift by monitoring the images taken by the ROV cameras. This would possibly facilitate the pilot's work but the cost/bene t relationship seems questionable. Once the transducer accuracies required for the remaining candidate systems were determined, the development of the PA was concluded to be the most cost-e ective. Table I summarizes the rating of the main features of each measurement system, evaluated according to the criteria aforementioned. From Table I, we have concluded that the PA is seemingly the best choice for ROV DP for operating ranges of a few meters. For larger operating ranges of up to about 100 m, the LBL would be our choice.

4 The dynamic positioning system

In this section the proposed Dynamic Positioning System for ROV's (DPSROV) is described, including its main hardware elements: the passive arm, the data acquisition system, and the DP/ROV interface.

x
-

DP/ROV Interface Manual

Joystick ROV Console

q q q Auto

D/A

hh h hh h hh h hh h

Watchdog

PC 486DX 50Mhz
6

Relay
6 ? -

Signal Conditioning

A/D

m d " r !Passive Arm ROV r

6 H H H H H H H H H H

Data Acquisition System

Underwater Structure

Figure 1: Block diagram of the dynamic positioning system (DPSROV) hardware.

Underwater Structure

# c l " ! PM 65 q 4c
@ @ @ @ ! ! ! ! @ ! ! !

qc 3

PE

cq 2

! !

Figure 2: Proposed structure for the passive arm. plished by LBL with at least three transponders on the ROV 11] (two transponders installed adequately on board allow heading measurement). Fig. 3 shows the PA prototype built at COPPE/UFRJ, already installed on TATUI. The two largest aluminum links have 1:2 m in length yielding about 2 m operating range. The data acquisition system and the DP computer are installed near the ROV console in the con4
C. Data Acquisition System

trol room. Each potentiometer signal of the PA is transmitted to the data acquisition system through a shielded cable to a distance of about 40 m. For larger distances, between the ROV and the control station, a more reliable solution would be to install the data acquisition system on board the ROV. Then, this system could transmit digitalized data to the DP computer (on the surface) through a serial link. The data acquisition system has the following main characteristics: 2 The 12 bit A/D converter allows a 0:083 ( 340 =212) resolution in the angular measurements. This converter resolution is necessary in order to achieve a position measurement error smaller than 5 mm and an attitude measurement accuracy better than 0:1 . 2 The di erential inputs are specially suited for precise measurement with remote sensors since noise immunity is improved and voltage drop along the transmission cable is compensated. 2 Active third order low-pass Butterworth lters (20 Hz cut-o frequency) reduces aliasing caused by signal sampling, specially in the power line harmonics (60 Hz and over) which are the main sources of noise in the ROV tether cable.
D. DP/ROV Interface

(iii)

The interface should be of easy installation on most ROV's being currently operated by PETROBRAS.

Figure 3: Prototype of the passive arm installed on TATUI (video still image). The DP software receives the potentiometer signals and provides input to the ROV control system in the form of joystick commands which in the usual manual mode are provided by the pilot. This solution for interfacing has the following main advantages:

The DP software (DPROV) incorporates the following functions: (i) position measurement and ltering; (ii) automatic position control; (iii) supervisory and system safety functions; (iv) on{line and o {line interactive numeric and graphic displays to help ROV operation, DP controller calibration and performance evaluation. The DPROV was written in C++ in a DOS environment. The software structure is composed of three main sub{systems: the man/machine interface (with pop{up menus), the interruption routine which controls the ROV and the supervisory module.

E. DP Software

2 It is simple and inexpensive: only cables, connectors, switches, one D/A converter per controlled d.o.f., and one relay are required. 2 The DP system can be installed with minor changes in the ROV hardware. 2 The operator can independently and at any time select the automatic or manual mode for the horizontal position (xe, ye ), the depth (ze ) and the heading ( ) by three switches of the interface unit. The status of the switches are sent to the PC parallel input port. 2 The interface allows easy commutation from automatic to manual mode, by means of a relay actuated by a single keyboard command or by means of physical switches. This redundancy was motivated by safety reasons. 2 The DP/ROV Interface connectors can be easily replaced by the original ones, thus returning to the original ROV con guration. A watchdog circuit automatically sets full manual mode if the transmission of the pulses generated by the PC fails, indicating some possible malfunction. In a future version the following three new features will be included:
Optical isolators will be used to interface the ROV console to the DP computer in order to reduce electrical noise and avoid grounding problems. (ii) The joystick signals will pass through an A/D converter to allow manual/automatic mode switching by the DP software.
(i)

5 Control algorithms
TATUI (Fig. 4) is equipped only with four propellers (1 vertical, 1 transverse and 2 rear) which allow the control of the position in the horizontal plane (xe, ye ), the depth (ze ) and the heading angle ( ). The remaining degrees of freedom (pitch and roll) cannot be directly controlled. However, the distance between the ROV gravity and buoyancy centers is su ciently large so as to keep the pitch and roll angles small provided the control system is adequately designed. The ROV movements are usually commanded by the joystick. The joystick commands are translated to thruster commands by means of some software routine incorporated to the ROV control system which essentially decouples the response of the ROV degrees of freedom (surge, sway, heave and yaw). As a result, each coordinate can be independently controlled by single loop controllers. Two control strategies were selected for implementation 3] 2] 1]: (a) Linear control; (b) Adaptive control based on sliding modes (VS{ MRAC). Each control strategy is brie y described below. The P{PI linear controller 10] 3] was selected in view of the following advantages with respect to more complex algorithms: 5
A. Linear Control

(a)

(b)

Figure 4: ROV TATUI: view.

(i)

(a)

side view;

(b)

rear

good performance can be achieved according to previous simulations; (ii) simple design and implementation; (iii) most control engineers are familiar with this class of controllers; (iv) it can be tuned during ROV operation.

The P{PI controller requires the ROV velocities, which are not measured directly by the PA. The velocities could be measured by additional transducers (e.g., acoustic log), however, this would increase the cost. An alternative is to use velocity estimation from position measurement. We have adopted a classical and simple solution, that is, the velocity relative to each coordinate is estimated by a rst order lead lter with transfer function s=(1 + s=!c ) . The cut{o frequency !c must be chosen small enough to reduce high frequency noise ampli cation. On the other hand, some care must be taken because closed{loop instability may arise if !c is too small. To improve measurement noise reduction, joint angles are sampled at a very high rate (300 Hz in the experiments in section 6) ltered by moving average and then down-sampled to the controller sampling rate (10 Hz).
B. Adaptive Variable Structure Control

It is well know that conventional controllers with xed parameters may fail to guarantee good quality 6

dynamic response of the overall system when significant changes in the vehicle dynamic characteristics and/or unmodeled and unmeasurable disturbances are present. Such situations may occur, for example, by adding extra equipment and/or changing the position or the load of the manipulators 6]. Moreover, the conventional controller design requires an accurate knowledge of the plant parameters, at least if an optimized response is desired. During experimental tank tests we have veri ed that the in loco tuning of the P{PI was necessary, partly due to the fact that the plant model used to compute the controller gains was not accurate enough, if only because decoupling of coordinate is only approximate and a residual interaction remains. A somewhat unexpected di culty in the experimental tests was that such tuning demanded much of the experience and patience of our control experts. This could be a serious problem for adequate DP operation by ordinary ROV pilots, when using the P{PI strategy. A theoretically suitable technique to cope with such plants, characterized by a great deal of uncertainty in both plant and disturbance modeling, is the Variable Structure Control (VSC) based on \sliding modes" (hence the term \sliding control") 12] 14]. The outstanding feature of VSC is that, once the sliding mode takes place, the performance of the system becomes immune to parameter variations and disturbances. However, the VSC design is usually based on measuring the full state of the controlled object. In our case, this means that at least the ROV position and velocity should be measured. In order to circumvent the need of velocity measurement, and in view of the known fact that an usual lead lter to estimate velocity would destroy the sliding mode, a recently developed I/O based VSC technique called VS{MRAC was utilized in the ROV DP 3] 2] 1]. This controller can be implemented only with the ROV position measurement while preserving the good performance and robustness to parameter uncertainties and disturbances of conventional VSC. Each ROV coordinate is controlled by a simpli ed controller version named \RELAY VS{MRAC" 8]. To achieve satisfactory performance, the VS{ MRAC requires a comparatively high sampling rate (100 Hz in the experiments presented below). This sampling rate would be impractical using ordinary LBL systems because of quite large acoustic delays. Similar restriction seems to hold for optical measurement systems based on image processing. Multi-rate sampling could be possibly used to reduce the necessary measurement sampling rate while keeping a high internal controller processing rate. This solution has not yet been examined in depth but seems to be promising.

On the other hand, the accuracy and the practically unlimited high sampling rate that can be achieved with the PA make it particularly adequate for VS{MRAC applications.

6 Experimental results
A. Previous Work

Those goals were successfully reached after several trials which took three days. The results were later analyzed allowing several improvements of the DPSROV. Then, the nal test batch was performed mainly to:
(i)

In previous works ( 3] 2] 4]) only simulation results were obtained using a six degrees of freedom ROV simulator SOL developed at COPPE/UFRJ. The ROV dynamic model in SOL is quite complete and is described in more detail elsewhere 5] and 3]. The thruster dynamics was also included in SOL motivated by several works 13] 2] 1] which indicated its strong in uence in precise DP performance. To identify the thruster model parameters, one thruster of TATUI was mounted on a load cell and tested in a tank. The dynamic parameters were then estimated from the measured step responses. Surprisingly, it was veri ed that the thruster electric drive had a delay of 0:5 s which was concluded to represent the dominant dynamics since it dominates, by far, the thruster inertial dynamics. To overcome possible imperfections in simulated thruster dynamics, a hybrid simulation 13] (also known as \hardware in the loop") was carried out using an actual thruster and one degree of freedom of the ROV dynamics simulated in a digital computer. The hybrid simulation showed that the P{PI controller can put up with the thruster delay even in the presence of disturbance forces. However, it was veri ed that the performance is severely degraded by noise in the position measurement. This has motivated some improvements in the measurement system in order to reduce measurement noise (e.g., the original 10 bit A/D converter was changed by a 12 bit low noise A/D; shielded cables were adopted in eld connections; digital moving average lters were applied to the measured joint angles prior to the ROV position computation).
B. Tank Tests

Verify the DPSROV e ciency; (ii) Evaluate the P{PI performance; (iii) Evaluate the VS{MRAC performance. Figures 5 and 6 show the DP performance in a \benchmark" trajectory tracking test at a constant depth. From A to B the ROV has to move ahead keeping constant heading; from B to C it has to move laterally still keeping the same constant heading; nally, from C to D the ROV has to move diagonally with simultaneous heading rotation command (30 ), this being a quite di cult task owing to the strong residual coupling between the degrees of freedom. The total ROV displacement is 1:7 m, completed in 90 seconds. The required tracking accuracy (a few centimeters) imposes a rather slow movement (30 s for each trajectory segment). The speed could probably be increased with less sluggish thrusters than those used in TATUI. Comparing the P{PI performance (Fig. 5) with the VS{MRAC (Fig. 6) it becomes evident that the VS{MRAC outperforms the P{PI. It is also noteworthy to remark that the VS-MRAC tuning was much easier and could be achieved quickly. These advantages seem to largely compensate the increased complexity of the latter controller. In station keeping, the positioning accuracy obtained was within 6 cm and the auto-heading accuracy was within 7 . In the tracking experiments the VS-MRAC keeps about the same accuracy as for station keeping. The P-PI, in contrast, leads to larger tracking errors, in spite of careful tuning.

7 Conclusion
In this paper the development of a passive arm based dynamic positioning system (PA DP) was motivated and described. As in previously obtained simulation results, the experimental trials lead us to conclude that the PA DP can provide quite e ective automatic position control. It was also very remarkable to verify that during the experiments the fully automatic mode was selected most of the time to ensure safe ROV motions in the tank. The adaptive controller VS-MRAC performance was quite good outperforming a conventional linear controller. It was encouraging to verify that such successful results were possible even with a rather 7

Tank tests were performed in a 5 m water tank at CONSUB. In an initial phase, the main objectives of the tests were:
(i)

To check the hardware e ciency (with special attention to the PA) and determine the required redesign to improve it; To debug and improve the DP software; To check the main parameters of the ROV dynamics (e.g., inertia); To preliminary tune and test the P{PI.

(ii) (iii) (iv)

0.75 0.5 0.25 0.0 -0.25 -0.5 -0.75 D C

(m)

ye

1.7

1.95

xe (m)

2.2

2.45

2.7
(a)

30 20 10 0

20

40

60 time (s)

80

100
(b)

Figure 5: Tank tests with the DPSROV operating with P{PI control. (b) Heading angle ( ).

(a)

Horizontal plane view (xe, ye ).

0.75 0.5 0.25 0.0 -0.25 -0.5 -0.75 1.7 1.95

(a)

(m)

ye

C D

xe (m)

2.2

2.45

2.7

30 20 10 0

20

40
(b)

60 time (s)

80

100

Figure 6: Tank tests with the DPSROV operating with VS{MRAC control. ye ). (b) Heading angle ( ).

(a)

Horizontal plane view (xe,

sluggish thruster response. Better results can thus be expected for ROV's with better thrusters. The ease of installation of the proposed DP system in the ROV is discussed. The case study presented in this paper suggests that the PA DP system could be installed with modest di culty in other ROV's, thus enlarging its applicability. The experimental trials should now proceed at sea in the near future. Since complete information of the ROV coordinates is provided, the PA seems particularly adequate for coordinated manipulator/vehicle control, which would further improve intervention tasks. This topic is being currently considered as a future R&D activity. The important technical issue of how to attach the PA to the underwater structure by remote control has to be assessed. Some possibilities, using magnetic xation are being currently analyzed.

8] L. Hsu, A. D. Araujo, and R. R. Costa, \Analysis and design of I/O based variable structure adaptivecontrol," IEEE Trans. Aut. Contr., vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 4{21, 1994. 9] F. Ricci and P. B. Ellingsen, \The REMO project," in Proc. ROV'92, (San Diego), 1992. 10] G. T. Russel, \A design methodology for nonlinear systems," in Nonlinear system design (S. A. Billings, J. O. Gray, and D. H. Owens, eds.), ch. 8, pp. 129{144, IEE, 1984. 11] H. Suzuki and K. Yoshida, \Trajectory tracking control of a ROV for lifting objects," in Proc. Int. O shore and Polar Eng. Conf., (Edinburgh), 1991. 12] V. I. Utkin, Sliding Modes and Their Application in Variable Structure Systems. MIR, 1978. 13] D. N. Yoerger, J. G. Cooke, and J. J. E. Slotine, \The in uence of thruster dynamics on underwater vehicle behavior and their incorporation into control system design," IEEE J. Oceanic Eng., vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 167{178, 1990. 14] D. N. Yoerger, J. B. Newman, and J. J. E. Slotine, \Supervisory control system for the Jason ROV," IEEE J. Oceanic Eng., vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 392{400, 1986.

Acknowledgments
The rst author would like to thank Dr. James R. MacFarlane from ISE, Canada, for suggesting the use of a passive arm during his visit to UFRJ in 1991. We would also like to acknowledge the friendly assistance provided by CONSUB/Rio de Janeiro during the tank tests.

References

1] J. P. V. S. Cunha, \Design and simulation study of a variable structure control system of a remotely operated underwater vehicle," Master's thesis, Programa de Eng. Eletrica, COPPE/UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, Feb. 1992. (in portuguese). 2] J. P. V. S. Cunha, R. R. Costa, and L. Hsu, \Input/Output variable structure position control of a remotely operated underwater vehicle," in Proc. 5th Int. Conf. on Advanced Robotics, (Pisa), 1991. 3] J. P. V. S. Cunha, R. Dominguez, R. Costa, and L. Hsu, \Design of a new high performance VS position control of ROVs," in Proc. Int. O shore and Polar Eng. Conf., (Edinburgh), 1991. 4] J. P. V. S. Cunha, J. L. Scieszko, R. R. Costa, L. Hsu, and A. C. C. M. Santa'Anna, \Short range position measurement systems for underwater vehicle dynamic positioning," in Proc. OCEANS'93, (Victoria, Canada), pp. 481{489, 1993. 5] R. B. Dominguez, \Simulation and control of a remotely operated submarine vehicle," Master's thesis, Programa de Eng. Eletrica, COPPE/UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro, April 1989. (in portuguese). 6] K. R. Goheen and E. R. Je erys, \Multivariable self{ tuning autopilots for autonomous and remotely operated underwater vehicles," IEEE J. Oceanic Eng., vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 144{151, 1990. 7] L. Hsu, \Variable structure model reference adaptive control using only I/O measurement: General case," IEEE Trans. Aut. Contr., vol. 35, no. 11, pp. 1238{ 1243, 1990.

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