A method of determination of feasible propeller forces and moments for an underwater robot

The paper presents procedure for the optimal allocation of thrust for horizontal motion of underwater robotic vehicles. Computation of propeller thrusts from propelling forces and moments is an optimisation problem based on a model, which the simplest form is unconstrained. In practice, however, where physical limitations must be taken into account, the obtained in such a way solution can be unrealistic. To cope with those difficulties, an algorithm for evaluation of the capacity of a propulsion system to produce required forces and moments and, if necessary, finding their feasible values is proposed. Due to computational simplicity, such an approach is a good solution in real-time applications. A numerical example is provided to demonstrate effectiveness and correctness
of the approach.