1 INTRODUCTION

With the development oI ocean research and exploitation,

the application domains oI underwater vehicle are being
enlarged, Ior example, the ocean science exploration and
resource exploitation application, underwater engineering
application, military application and etc |1|. Because the
complicated sea environment where the underwater vehicle
working in and the restriction oI experiment condition and
cost, in order to research and simulate the motion oI
underwater vehicle in ocean, it is necessary to construct a
simulation system. The main aim oI motion simulation
system is to show the current motion states oI underwater
vehicle accurately and at real time when the control
commands are given. The motion states include linear and
angular velocities, position and attitude, linear and angular
accelerations, hydrodynamic Iorces acting on underwater
vehicle and etc. The motion simulation system can also
evaluate the motion ability and maneuverability oI
underwater vehicle, and supply a platIorm Ior motion
controller design and debugging, so it has great signiIicance
in engineering.
The motion simulation system in this paper is developed
basing on VC tool and includes two modules, motion
equation solving module and visual display module. The
visual display module is developed based on advanced
soItware platIormMultiGen Creator and Vega. The
simulation system can realistically demonstrate the
movement oI underwater vehicle in ocean. The architecture
oI the simulation system, the dynamic model oI underwater
vehicle and the 3D modeling method oI visual simulation
are discussed in this paper.
2 MOTION SIMULATION SYSTEM
ARCHITECTURE
The main architecture oI motion simulation system is
shown in Figure 1. Propellers and rudders usually act
together to control the movement oI underwater vehicle and
the maneuver commands come Irom control system. In
motion equation solving module, the 6-DOF nonlinear
dynamic equations are established Iirstly and then solved
by Runge-Kutta method oI numerical integral. The motion
inIormation which include linear velocities oI X, Y, Z,
angular velocities oI S, T, U, attitude angles oI , , , and
positions oI X, Y, Z are obtained aIter each calculation time
step. The visual simulation module has Iunction oI
human-computer interaction. The simulation environment
setting, the management oI visual display and the
initialization oI motion state can be implemented in visual
simulation module. The data transmission between the two
modules is carried out through network using Socket, and
underwater vehicle model in visual simulation module can
move according to the data. All the inIormation can be sent
to control system to make the controller send out right
commands.

Fig 1. Architecture oI motion simulation system

Research on Motion Simulation System for Underwater Vehicle
WANG Bo, GUO Bing-jie, SU Yu-min, LI Ye, LIANG Xiao
College oI Shipbuilding Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, China
E-mail: wangbo103yahoo.com.cn

Abstract: The motion simulation system oI underwater vehicle was developed based on dynamic model oI the
underwater vehicle and soItware platIormMultiGen Creator and Vega. The architecture oI the simulation system was
introduced. The coordinate system and 6-DOF dynamic equations oI the underwater vehicle were constructed. The 3D
modeling method based on Creator, the eIIect generation method oI ocean environment and collision detecting method
were discussed. By using Vega to drive models, the visual simulation module was built. The simulation results show that
this simulation system can realistically demonstrate the motion oI underwater vehicle and satisIy the real time
requirement. The system can also provide a platIorm Ior debugging and validating oI the underwater vehicle`s intelligent
control algorithm.
Key Words: Underwater Vehicle, Motion Simulation, Visual Simulation, Virtual Reality

3349
978-1-4244-1734-6/08/$25.00 c 2008 IEEE

3 DYNAMIC MODEL OF UNDERWATER
VEHICLE
3.1 Coordinate System
In order to describe the underwater vehicle`s motion and set
up the 6-DOF nonlinear mathematical model, a special
reIerence Irame must be established. Base on the
recommendations oI International Towing Tank
ConIerence ( ITTC) and Society oI Naval Architects and
Marine Engineers (SNAME) , there has two reIerence
Irames: the earth-Iixed system( ( ) and the body-Iixed
system ( R[\] )( as shown in Figure2).

Fig 2. Coordinate system
3.2 Motion Equations of Underwater Vehicle
According to geostatics theory, the underwater vehicle`s
6-DOF nonlinear dynamic equations oI motion can be
described as Iollows |2|:
2 2
2 2
2 2
|( ) ( )
( ) ( )|
|( ) ( )
( ) ( )|
|( ) ( )
( ) ( )|
( )
*
* *
*
* *
*
* *
[ ] \
P X YU ZT [ T U
\ ST U ] SU T ;
P Y ZS XU \ U S
] TU S [ TS U <
P Z XT YT ] S T
[ US T \ US S =
, S , , TU
+ + +
+ + =
+ + +
+ + =
+ + +
+ + =
+

| (
) ( )|
( ) | (
) ( )|
( ) | (
) ( )|
*
*
\ [ ] *
*
] \ ] *
*
P \ Z SY
TX ] Y UX SZ .
, T , , US P ] X ZT
YU [ Z SY XT 0
, U , , ST P [ Y XU
SZ \ X TZ YU 1

+ +

+ =

+ + +

+ =

+ + +

+ =

(1)
Where: m is the weight oI underwater vehicle, (,
[
, ,
\
,,
]
) is
moments oI inertia, (
*
[ ,
*
\ ,
*
] ) is the position oI center oI
gravity in body-Iixed coordinate, X, Y, Z, S, T, and U are
velocities oI 6-DOF, X , Y , Z , S , T and U are accelerations
oI 6-DOF. The right parts oI equation (1) are the projection
oI external Iorces and moments acting on the vehicle and
can be expressed as Iollows:
* % + 5 7
= + + + + ) ) ) ) ) ) (2)
Where:
* % + 5 7
+ + + + ) ) ) ) )
are gravity (moment),
buoyancy (moment), hydrodynamic Iorce (moment),
Rudder Iorce (moment), propeller thrust (torque).
The Iorces or moments in the motion equation can be
obtained through theory calculation or experiment. Based
on the above dynamic model, setting time step, the
underwater vehicle`s accelerations, velocities and attitudes
can be gotten by using Runge-Kutta method oI numerical
integral and sent to visual simulation module at real time.
4 REALIZATION OF VISUAL SIMULATION
4.1 3D Entity Modeling and Effect Generation of
Ocean Environment
(1) Entity models
3D entity modeling is the base oI the visual simulation. The
models needed to be built include the underwater vehicle
model, the ship models on the ocean surIace, mountain
models near the coast, Iish models, obstacle models and so
on. Considering the real time requirement oI simulation, the
LOD (Level oI Detail) method and texture mapping
technology are used to reduce the computation workload
and increase scene rendering velocity |3|.
(2) Terrain modeling oI ocean Iloor
Terrain modeling oI ocean Iloor is a very important part oI
visual simulation. The tool oI MultiGen Terrain in
MultiGen Creator can create large terrain database quickly.
Firstly, the DEM (Digital Elevation Model) is built based
on data source oI electronic chart. Secondly, the DEM data
is converted to the DED Iormat which can be recognized by
Creator |4|. Finally, choosing given material and texture,
the large area oI terrain can be generated through a series oI
parameter setting. To the large scale terrain scene, the data
volume is very large, so taking the system resource
capability and real time requirement into consideration, the
whole terrain is divided into several parts. According to the
positions oI underwater vehicle and observer, the terrain
which can be seen currently is called in dynamically
utilizing LADBM module oI Vega.
(2) Modeling oI ocean environment
The eIIect oI sky above sea is set by two modules oI Vega,
Environment EIIects module and Environments module
|5|. The environment brightness, sky color, cloud eIIect and
atomization eIIect are added to the scene. The eIIect oI the
sea surIace is realized using Marine module oI Vega. By
changing the wave height by parameter setting in graphic
panel tool oI Lynx and choosing appropriate surIace texture
and pasting style, the dynamic sea surIace can be simulated.
The eIIect is shown in Figure3.

Fig 3. Sky and sea surIace environment

As to environment underwater, the thesis adopts
atomization method to simulate the turbid state below sea
surIace. In order to simulate the condition that the vehicle
can see a semitransparent sea surIace when sailing near
water surIace, a semitransparent plane with texture oI water
is placed below the sea surIace. The underwater eIIect is
shown in Figure4 and there has a group oI Iish beyonG.
Earth-Iixed system
Body-Iixed system
3350 2008 Chinese Control and Decision Conference (CCDC 2008)


Fig 4. Underwater environment
4.2 Collision detecting
The application oI collision detecting can improve the
reality oI the virtual environment and simulate Iunctions oI
some sensors. The methods oI HAT and BUMP are applied
in collision detecting.
The HAT method is used to compute the distance between
the vehicle and sea Iloor, and the position oI Isector is
coincident with the mass center oI the vehicle and change
according to the underwater vehicle`s position.
The BUMP method is used to detect whether the vehicle
collides with obstacles or sea Iloor and return the collision
inIormation, so to provide a collision avoiding strategy.
This method uses six line segments which extends Irom the
current X,Y,Z position oI the Isector along the positive and
negative body axis vectors (right, straight-ahead, up). The
length oI the line segments are controlled by the parameters
Width, Length, and Height. The line segments are centered
around the current X, Y, Z position oI the Isector. II one or
more segments intersect with an object, then the Bump
Isector is said to have collided with something. The output
oI this method is whether a collision has occurred, and the
point(s) oI intersections with the database |7|.
The BUMP method is shown in Figure 5.

Fig 5. BUMP method scheme
4.3 Simulation of other effects
The AudioWorks2 module is used to simulate the sound in
sea environment and sound Irom underwater vehicle`s
engine. The eIIect oI current and bubbles generated by
propeller is simulated with Particle System and can change
with speed oI the propeller. As to the Iish in the ocean,
because their movements are random, the Path-Navigator
method is adopted to control their motion.
4.4 Program development based on Vega
The three stages |8| in setting up a Vega application are:
(1) Initialization: call vgInitSys to initialize the system and
to create the shared memory arena and semaphore arena.
(2) DeIinition: deIine the system by creating instances oI
the required and desired classes. This step can be
accomplished by calling vgDeIineSys with the name oI an
application deIinition Iile (ADF).
(3) ConIiguration: call vgConIigSys to complete the setup,
including conIiguration oI the correlated properties and
states oI the instances, I/O device, attributes oI window and
channel.
AIter the above steps, Vega applications enter in main loop
and call vgSyncFrame and vgFrame to render and drive the
scene. vgSyncFrame synchronizes the application thread to
a given Irame rate and vgFrame causes all processing
internal to Vega to be perIormed Ior the current Irame.
Updates made aIter vgFrame has been called are applied to
the next Irame. The speciIic process is shown as Fig.6.

Fig.6 The main process oI a Vega application

The visual simulation module in this paper is constructed
within the Irame oI MFC. UI (User InterIace) thread is
primary thread and Vega thread is auxiliary thread. UI
thread takes charge oI the overall control oI the visual
simulation module and Vega thread takes charge oI the
scene rendering, model state control and external input
response. UI thread can start Vega thread and create a
communication thread to transmit data with motion
equation solving module and control system.
In order to get interested inIormation and satisIy the need to
track and observe the underwater vehicle, the problem oI
observer view choosing and switching should be
considered. The deIault style is set to be Tether-Follow and
the observer move together with the vehicle. In addition,
user can track the wanted scene by using keyboard input to
change the observer`s position.
4.5 Coordinate transformation
The earth-Iixed coordinate system in motion equation
solving module is not consistent with that in visual display
module, so it is necessary to do some coordinate
transIormation works |9|.
Suppose (x, y, z) is mass center oI the vehicle in the
earth-Iixed system in motion equation solving module, and
(X, Y, Z) is mass center oI the vehicle in the earth-Iixed
system in visual display module, then the corresponding
transIorming relationship is: ; [ =
< \ =
= ] = .
Suppose ( , , ) is the vehicle attitude angles
respectively corresponding to three axes ( , , ) in the
earth-Iixed system in motion equation solving module and
(3,5,+) is the vehicle attitude angles respectively
corresponding to three axes (X,Y,Z) in the earth-Iixed
system in visual display module, then the corresponding
transIorming relationship is: + = , 3 = , 5 = .
vgDeIineSys ()
vgInitSys ()
vgConIigSys ()
vgFrame ()
vgSyncFrame ()
main loop
2008 Chinese Control and Decision Conference (CCDC 2008) 3351

5 DISPLAY OF SOME SIMULATING
RESULTS
Here two scenes are presented as Figure 7 and Figure 8.
Figure 7 shows the sailing state oI the vehicle at sea surIace
and Figure 8 shows the diving motion oI the vehicle.

Fig 7. Simulation oI sailing at sea surIace


Fig 8. Simulation oI diving motion
6 CONCLUSIONS
Based on the dynamic model oI underwater vehicle, the
modeling toolkit MultiGen Creator and simulating platIorm
Vega, a motion simulation system Ior underwater vehicle
has been developed. The simulation system can realistically
simulate the movement oI underwater vehicle
in ocean. It also oIIers a platIorm Ior debugging and
validating oI the underwater vehicle`s intelligent control
algorithm in a virtual environment instead oI in diIIicult
costly and possibly hazardous testing oI control algorithms
in lake or sea Ior underwater vehicle. It has good simulation
eIIect in practical application.
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3352 2008 Chinese Control and Decision Conference (CCDC 2008)