Design and Development of ROV for Ship Hull Inspection Using ADRC.

Remote Operated Vehicles (ROVs) have been widely used in complex underwater environments. One important application of ROVs is in the inspection of underwater ship hulls. This article describes the design and development of an ROV to assist in this task. The ROV is designed as an open-frame type, with many sensors installed to detect the condition of the ship’s submerged structures. The article presents the design of the ROV’s power and control compartments, as well as the control program. The ROV has two modes of operation: manual and automatic. In manual mode, the ROV is operated using a joystick. In automatic mode, it can run at a fixed position, depth and direction. Experimental results show that the use of the Active Disturbance Rejection Control (ADRC) algorithm is effective and can assist in underwater inspections. Underwater detection experiments were also conducted.