Simplified Modelling and Identification of an Inspection ROV

Abstract The expansion of subsea applications demands extended use of autonomous capabilities within Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), which can reduce the overall operation time and cost. Obtaining a simple but also reasonably precise model is important for an autonomized control strategy. This study outlines a low-dimensional model structure for a commercial underwater inspection ROV, based on simplifying physical assumptions. The respective model parameters are obtained from experimental data. Tuning parameters are then introduced in order to further improve the accuracy of the identified model. Based on a model validation it is concluded that the obtained model contains the main properties of the ROV.