Abstract
A towed underwater vehicle is thought of as an effective method to survey the bottom of the seabed at large depths. A movable wing attached to it is one of the most effective systems to stabilize motion, and maintain the vehicle’s course and posture. In this paper, the authors discuss how to design and control the wings to attain maximum performance. For practical design, environmental conditions such as seabed topography, ocean current, depth, etc. must be considered. Here, computer simulation was applied and the validity of the design was confirmed. Furthermore, the analysis leads to an estimation of the controllability of the vehicle’s motion and its control method.
