Omnidirectional Control of an Underwater Vehicle Equipped with a Collective and Cyclic Pitch Propeller

This paper presents omnidirectional control capability of a new type of underwater vehicle equipped with a collective and cyclic pitch propeller. A conventional propeller generates axial thrust only, while a collective and cyclic propeller can generate axial and side thrusts. The axial and side thrusts compose a total vector thrust that can be used to control the underwater vehicle in all directions. In this paper a mathematical model for the underwater vehicle equipped with a collective and cyclic propeller is derived by theory and used to verify omnidirectional controls by numerical simulation, including turning circle test, zigzag tests, yaw control, depth control, speed control and trajectory tracking control. Keywords: omnidirectional control, underwater vehicle, collective and cyclic pitch propeller.